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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE 



PROPHECIES OF DANIEL 



EXPOUNDED 



5*' 



MILTON S| TERRY, S. T. D. 
11 

Professor of Old Testament Exegesis In Garrett Biblical Institute. 




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NEW YORK : HUNT & EATON 
CINCINNATI : CRANSTON & CURTS 



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Copyright, 1893, by 

HUNT & EATON, 

New York. 



Electrotyped, printed, and bound by 

HUNT & EATON, 

150 Fifth Avenue, New York. 



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PREFACE, 



This little volume does not aim to furnish 
a commentary on the Book of Daniel, but 
consists rather of a series of exegetical essays 
on the apocalyptical portions of the book. It 
is sent forth with a hope of correcting, to some 
extent, the unsound methods of interpretation 
from which, we believe, this series of prophe- 
cies has greatly suffered. With a number of 
English expositors it would seem that the 
chief mission of Daniel, during the time of 
the Babylonian exile, was to foretell the rise 
and fall of the Roman papacy ; and one 
might almost infer, from the tone and spirit 
with which some of them write, that, if this 
darling idea of theirs is to be rejected, the 
book would scarcely be entitled to a place in 
the inspired canon of Scriptures. There is 
also a singularly persistent presumption, fos- 
tered, no doubt, by the class of works just 
referred to, that the Book of Daniel and the 
Apocalypse of John may be reasonably ex- 
pected to contain a prophetic syllabus of 



4 Preface. 

European politics. Ancient and mediaeval 
history has, accordingly, been ransacked to 
find particular persons, kingdoms, and events 
answering to the supposed allusions of the 
inspired prophet. One may well be amazed 
at the amount of imperious dogmatism dis- 
played in the writings of some who follow the 
line of such unwarranted assumptions. 

A sound interpretation of these prophecies 
has also been embarrassed by an obvious de- 
sire, on the part of some theologians, to make 
the book a special contribution to apologetics. 
However commendable such a desire in itself, 
it is safe to say that, when interpretation is 
made subservient to such an ulterior polemic 
purpose, it will inevitably be too much gov- 
erned by considerations outside the province 
of pure exegesis. In the study of such a work 
as Daniel all dogmatism must be set aside. 
We should study to place ourselves in the 
very position of the prophet, and attend care- 
fully to the character of his language and his 
symbols. The ancient writer must be permit- 
ted, as far as possible, to explain himself; and 
the interpreter should not be so full of ideas 
derived from universal history, or from remote 
ages and peoples, as to desire to find in any 
prophecy what is not manifestly there. It is 



Preface. 5 

fatal to a safe interpretation of any book to 
presume in advance what ought or what ought 
not to be found therein. We believe the 
best defense of the Book of Daniel may be 
found in a simple and self-consistent exposi- 
tion of its prophetic elements. These are of 
such profound significance and imperishable 
worth that, when clearly apprehended in their 
relation to one another, and in their historical 
connection with the pre Christian literature 
of the Jewish people, they carry with them 
their own self-evidencing apology. Whatever 
may be the results of scientific criticism touch- 
ing the date and authorship of the book, the 
apocalyptic chapters constitute a most origi- 
nal and important body of divine revelation. 
Whether written during the exile, or in the 
times of the Maccabees, they contain a picture 
of the kingdoms of the world and their ulti- 
mate subjection to the kingdom of God wor- 
thy of rank with any prophecies to be found 
in the Hebrew Scriptures. Nowhere else do 
we find, before the advent of Christ, such a 
magnificent conception of the kingdom of 
heaven. 

The English text on which the following 
comments are based is mainly that of the 
Anglico-American Revision of 1885. But, 



6 Preface. 

for reasons which our notes will show, we 
have modified and changed it in a number 
of places. The view of the four great king- 
doms here presented (namely, as Babylonian, 
Median, Persian, and Grecian), although held 
probably at present by a greater number of 
distinguished exegetes than any other, is com- 
paratively unknown to ordinary English read- 
ers. The opinion that the fourth kingdom is 
the Roman Empire has been so uniformly 
set forth in current expositions for the people 
that many have adopted it for no better rea- 
son than that they never had another clearly 
shown to them. Not given to original or in- 
dependent inquiries, the majority of ordinary 
students of the Bible are generally disposed 
to follow that which comes first to hand. 
The exposition here offered only asks for a 
fair hearing. 



SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



Auberlen, Karl August. Der Prophet Daniel 
und die Offenbarung Johannis in ihrem gegen- 
seitigen Verhaltniss betrachtet und in ihren 
Hauptstellen erlautert. Basle, 1854. 

Translated by AdolphSaphir. Edinburgh, 1856. 

BARNES, ALBERT. Notes, Critical, Illustrative, and 
Practical, on the Book of Daniel, with an Intro- 
ductory Dissertation. New York, 1853. 

BERTHOLDT, LEONHARD. Daniel aus dem Hebra- 
isch-Aramaischen neu iibersetzt und erklart, mit 
einer volstandigen Einleitung und einigen his- 
torischen und exegetischen Excursen. Erlang- 
en. Erste Halfte, 1806. Zweite Halfte, 1808. 

BEVAN, A. A. A Short Commentary on the Book 
of Daniel for the Use of Students. Cambridge, 
1892. 

COWLES, HENRY. Ezekiel and Daniel, with Notes, 
Critical, Explanatory, and Practical, designed for 
both Pastors and People. New York, 1867. 

CHEYNE, T. K. Article " Daniel," in the ninth edi- 
tion of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. 

Delitzsch, Franz. Article " Daniel/' in Herzog 
& Plitt's Real-Encyclopadie. 1878. 

Desprez, Philip S. Daniel and John: or the 
Apocalypse of the Old and that of the New 
Testament. London, 1878. 

Ewald, Georg Heinrich August von. Proph- 
ets of the Old Testament. Translated by J. 
F. Smith. Vol. v, pp. 152-324. London, 1881. 



8 Select Bibliography. 

Haevernich, Heinricii Andreas Christoph. 
Kommentar ilber das Buch Daniel. Hamburg, 
1832. 

HENGSTENBERG, E. W. Dissertations on the Gen- 
uineness of Daniel. Translated by B. P. Prat- 
ten. Edinburgh, 1847. 

HlTZIG, FERDINAND. Das Buch Daniel erklait. 
Leipzig, 1850. 

KAMPHAUSEN, A. Das Buch Daniel und die neuere 
Geschichtsforschung. Ein Vortrag mit Anmerk- 
ungen. Leipzig, 1892. 

KEIL, C. F. Biblical Commentary on the Book 
of the Prophet Daniel. Translated by M. G. 
Easton. Edinburgh, 1872. 

KLIEFOTH, Theodor F. D. Das Buch Daniels 
iibersetzt und erklart. Schwerin, 1868. 

Kranichfeld, Rudolph. Das Buch Daniel er- 
klart. Berlin, 1868. 

LENGERKE, Caesar VON. Das Buch Daniel ver- 
deutscht und ausgelegt. Konigsberg, 1835. 

PUSEY, E. P. Daniel the Prophet. Nine Lectures, 
delivered in the Divinity School of the Univer- 
sity of Oxford. With Copious Notes. Oxford, 
1864. 

ROSE, H. J., and J. M. FULLER. Introduction, 
Commentary, Critical Notes, and Excursus on 
Daniel (in the Speaker's Commentary). London 
and New York, 1878/ 

STUART, MOSES. A Commentary on the Book of 
Daniel. Boston, 1850. 

ZOECKLER, OTTO. The Br>ok of the Prophet Daniel, 
Theologically and Homiletically Expounded 
(Part of Lange's Biblework). Translated, en- 
larged, and edited by James Strong. New 
York, 1876. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Daniel is preeminently the apocalyptist of the 
Old Testament, but his book is not classed, in the 
Jewish canon, among the prophets. He seems to 
have been regarded not so much a prophet as a re- 
vealer of secrets, a sage, who easily surpassed the 
wise men of Babylon, and, like Joseph in Egypt, 
was brought into prominence and received great 
honor for his skill and wisdom when the sacred 
scribes and astrologers confessed their own inability. 
That this wise man of the captivity is identical with 
the Daniel referred to in Ezek. xiv, 14, and xxviii, 3, 
has been reasonably doubted ; for it is highly improb- 
able that Ezekiel would have thus named a contem- 
porary between two ancient patriarchs. A certain 
Daniel is also mentioned among the returned exiles 
(Ezra viii, 2 ; Neh. x, 9), but no one believes that 
he was the great chief of the wise men of Babylon. 
The name, like many others among the Hebrew 
people, appears to have been a common one, and 
may have been borne by several in the ancient, as it 
has been by many in the later, times. 

The literary problems of the Book of Daniel are 
peculiarly difficult. The two languages (or dialects) 
which furnish the oldest existing text do not corre- 
spond with a natural division of the work. The 



io Introduction. 

Aramaic portion begins, somewhat naturally, at 
chapter ii, 4, where the Chaldeans first address the 
king ; and had it ended with that chapter, or with 
chapter vi, some reason for the employment of an- 
other language might have been apparent in view 
of the contents of these chapters. But the Aramaic 
portion runs on without a break to the end of the 
seventh chapter, and includes what purports to be 
an independent vision of Daniel. Perhaps the sim- 
plest and most intelligible hypothesis is that this 
Aramaic section is not the original text of Daniel, 
but an ancient Targum, or paraphrase, which has 
been substituted for it. This conjecture is the 
more plausible, from the fact that the oldest ver- 
sions of the book contain Haggadic additions both 
to the Aramaic and the Hebrew portions, and these 
additions are believed by many of the best critics 
to be translations of a Hebrew or Aramaic original. 
The ancient Alexandrian version was itself long set 
aside, and that of Theodotion substituted for it in 
the current copies of the Septuagint. Both these 
Greek versions insert, at chapter iii, 23, the song 
of the three Hebrews in the furnace of fire. The 
Alexandrian appends to the book the stories of 
Susanna and of Bel and the Dragon, while Theodo- 
tion places Susanna at the beginning and Bel and 
the Dragon at the end. All these facts tend to cre- 
ate the suspicion that the original text of Daniel is 
lost, and in its place we have a compilation which 
probably embodies all its essential contents along 
with some Haggadic supplements. 

Any attempt to determine, by internal evidence, 



Introduction. ii 

the limits of the original work must necessarily be 
conjectural in its nature, and, therefore, more or 
less unsatisfactory. It seems easy to exclude the 
apocryphal additions of the Greek versions ; but it 
is maintained that the contents of chapters iii-vi 
and portions of chapters ix and x relegate them to 
the same class of legendary writings. Zockler's 
studies led him to reject also chapter xi, 5-39, as an 
interpolation of Maccabean times ; for he declares 
his " conviction that a particularizing prophecy, 
embracing the history of centuries, as it is found in 
that section, forms so marked a contrast to every- 
thing in the line of specializing prediction that 
occurs elsewhere in the prophetic literature of the 
Old Testament, that only the theory of an interpo- 
lating revision of its prophetic contents imposed on 
it during the period of the Seleucid persecutions, or 
soon afterward, seems to afford a really satisfactory 
explanation of its particulars/' ' 

But whatever our theories of the composition and 
present structure of the Book of Daniel as a whole, 
it is unquestionable that its apocalyptic portions 
possess a marked originality. Here, for the first 
time, we note a vivid conception of successive world- 
empire. The kingdoms of the wide world rise and 
pass away in the visions of this seer like so many 
huge monsters; but they are all under the domin- 
ion of the God of heaven, and are destined to give 
place, in the end, to the " kingdom of the saints of 
the Most High." The historical standpoint is a 
period extending from the time of the Babylonian 

1 Preface to Daniel, in Lange's Biblezvcrk. 



12 Introduction. 

Nebuchadnezzar to that of Cyrus the Persian, and 
the prophet's position is at Babylon or at Shushan. 
To him it was given to outline certain great events 
of human history which were to come to pass there- 
after. According to the book itself Daniel lived to 
see the fulfillment of a part of his predictions. He 
witnessed the fall of Babylon, the reign of Darius 
the Mede, and the third year of Cyrus, the king of 
Persia. Then he is told by an angelic interpreter 
that, after four Persian kings have reigned, the 
dominion of the world will pass to the hands of 
Grecian rulers and become " divided toward the 
four winds of heaven." Under the crushing and 
bitter wars of these divided sections the people of 
God will suffer terrible persecutions, and their sanc- 
tuary will be polluted and destroyed ; but in the 
end the Most High will avenge his people's woes, 
and bring in everlasting righteousness, and " the 
wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, 
and they that turn many to righteousness as the 
stars forever and ever." 

All this differs notably from the manner of the 
earlier prophets. Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and 
even Ezekiel have their oracles against the heathen 
kingdoms, and predict their overthrow ; but, with 
the exception of a few passages wrought out in a 
lofty symbolical style of language, they are not 
properly apocalyptic. Daniel, probably, more than 
any other one Old Testament writer, has exerted 
a controlling influence over all later apocalyptists in 
determining the form of their predictions. This 
fact is apparent in the pseudepigraphal books of 



Introduction. 13 

Enoch, Moses, Barucli, and Fourth Ezra, and espe- 
cially in the New Testament apocalypse of John. 
A collation and comparative study of all these 
books are obviously helpful to the study of anyone. 
The apocalyptic portions of the Book of Daniel 
may, for our purpose, be best arranged in five chap- 
ters, representing five distinct prophecies, as follows : 

1. Nebuchadnezzar's Prophetic Dream, ii, 

3i-45. 

2. Daniel's Vision of the Four Empires 
and the Judgment, vii. 

3. Vision of the Ram and the Goat, viii. 

4. The Seventy Weeks, ix, 24-27. 

5. The Broken and Divided Kingdom and 
the End, xi, 2-xii, 3. 

A careful examination of these passages will show 
that they go repeatedly over the same ground. The 
four kingdoms of Daniel's vision (vii) are evidently 
identical with those of Nebuchadnezzar's dream (ii). 
The vision of the ram and the goat is but another 
portraiture of the third and fourth kingdoms of the 
preceding prophecy, and the contents of the last 
section (xi, 2-xii, 3) are but a more detailed outline 
of events to occur in connection with the fourth 
kingdom. 



THE PROPHECIES OF DANIEL. 



FIRST PROPHECY. 

NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM. Chap, ii, 31-45. 

Verses 31-36 describe the vision ; verses 37-45 give the interpre- 
tation. 

31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a 
great image. This image, which was mighty, 
and whose brightness was excellent, stood be- 
fore thee ; and the aspect thereof was terrible. 



COMMENT AND EXPOSITION. 
31. A great image — A colossal human figure, stand- 
ing, apparently, in an open plain. There is an obvious 
naturalness in Nebuchadnezzar's dreaming of such an 
image, for probably similar stupendous statues of the 
gods of Babylon and kings of Assyria were familiar to his 
eye. Such huge figures as the statues of Remcses and 
Memnon in Egypt were probably known to him, and the 
golden image, which he himself set up in the plain of 
Dura (chap, iii, 1), is evidence of his fondness for such 
monuments. The brightness and terrible aspect, or appear- 
ance, contributed also to the deep impression made upon 
the king. 



16 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

32 As for this image, his head was of fine gold, 
his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and 
his thighs of brass, 33 his legs of iron, his feet 
part of iron, and part of clay. 34 Thou saw- 
est till that a stone was cut out without hands, 
which smote the image upon his feet that were 
of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces. 
35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the 
silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, 



32, 33. Gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay — These 
materials deserve notice, especially in comparison with a 
similar designation of the ages of human history found in 
other places. In the Parsee tradition Zoroaster was 
shown four trees — one of gold, another of silver, another 
of steel, and the fourth of iron — and he was told that 
these four trees represented four ages of the world. — Bah- 
man Yasht. Ovid sings of the ages of gold, silver, bronze, 
and iron (Metam., i, 89-129) ; and though Hesiod (in 
Works and Days, 109-201) mentions five ages, he has for 
them only four metalic names — gold, silver, brass, and iron. 

34. Stone cut out without hands — Stone, in the 
thought of the king, would have been notably inferior to 
any of the metals of the image. The description suggests 
a huge boulder, loosing itself from a neighboring steep 
mountain and rolling down upon the image with irresisti- 
ble force. This stone was seen to smite the image upon 
its feet, a fact which receives no notice, as having any spe- 
cial significance, in the subsequent interpretation (verse 
45), but which some exegetes have magnified as if it were 
a most important point in the vision. 

35. Broken in pieces together — Because all these 



First Prophecy. 17 

and became like the chaff of the summer 
threshing-floors ; and the wind carried them 
away, that no place was found for them : and 
the stone that smote the image became a 
great mountain, and filled the whole earth. 
36 This is the dream ; and we will tell the 
interpretation thereof before the king. 

37 Thou, O king, art king of kings, unto 
whom the God of heaven hath given the king- 



parts constituted one image they were broken as one. 
The imagery naturally suggests that head, breast, body, 
legs, and feet perished simultaneously, and this must have 
been the case with the image itself. But why do not the 
rigid literalists explain how this comports with the facts 
of history ? As a matter of fact, according to the proph- 
et's own explanation, the head of gold was the first to be 
overthrown, and next the silver breast and arms, and last 
of all the feet of iron and clay. Like the chaff — Comp. 
Job xxi, 18; Psalm i, 4; xxxv, 5 ; Isa. xli, 15. Stone 
...became a great mountain — The word -ivo, niay 
mean either mountain or rock (=Heb. n^). Both ideas 
seem blended, for according to verse 45 the stone was 
"cut out of the mountain," as if the mountain were 
itself a lofty bluff of rock, and in its progress it grew 
into a mountainous rock that seemed to fill the whole 
earth. 

36. We will tell — Daniel here associates with him- 
self the three friends who had united with him in prayer 
to God concerning the. secret of the king. Comp. verses 
17, 18, 23. 

37. King of kings — Common title assumed, as the 



1 8 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

dom, the power, and the strength, and the 
glory ; 38 and wheresoever the children of 
men dwell, the beasts of the field and the 
fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine 
hand, and hath made thee to rule over them 
all : thou art the head of gold. 39 And after 
thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to 



monuments show, by Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian 
monarchs. 

38. Beasts. ..fowls — These are also enumerated as 
indicating the absolute rule of the king, and his supposed 
ownership of everything whatever in the bounds of his 
empire. Comp. Jer. xxvii, 6 ; xxviii, 14. The universal 
dominion here ascribed to Nebuchadnezzar is obviously 
to be understood in a general way as denoting the Asiatic 
world known to the writer. Beyond the limits of the 
Babylonian empire, whether east or west, he has no oc- 
casion to carry the thoughts of his reader. Whatever 
regions or peoples beyond these limits are in anyway in- 
volved in the visions must be determined by inference. 
Thou art the head of gold — Appropriately said, 
under the circumstances, to him who in his own person 
represented the empire which he did more than any other 
one to establish and make glorious. Comp. the language 
of chap, iv, 30. This explanation is so specific as to 
leave no question that the first of the four kingdoms was 
the Babylonian, of which Nebuchadnezzar was then the 
ruling sovereign. 

39. Another kingdom inferior to thee — Accord- 
ing to this Book of Daniel, " Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, 
of the seed of the Medes, was made king over the realm 



First Prophecy. 19 

of the Chaldeans " immediately after the capture of 
Babylon by the Medes and Persians (ix, 1). In chapter 
vi, 28, "the reign of Darius " is distinguished from " the 
reign of Cyrus the Persian/' This " Darius the Mede " 
is said to have been about sixty-two years old, when, on 
the death of Belshazzar, he " received the kingdom " 
(v, 31). He " set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty 
satraps" (vi, 1), and signed and sealed royal statutes 
(vi, 7-9, 17), and issued royal proclamations "unto all the 
people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth " 
(vi, 25). In this form of royal edict he employed the 
same language and assumed the same absolute dominion 
of empire as Nebuchadnezzar. Comp. iv, 1. If, there- 
fore, the Book of Daniel is permitted to explain itself, 
the second and "inferior" kingdom is to be under- 
stood of the dominion of Darius the Mede. The silence 
of history touching this Mede does not in the least change 
the statements of Daniel. A similar mystery long hung 
over the person of Belshazzar, and it was stoutly affirmed 
that no such ruler had a place in Babylonian history. 
But all the older discussions concerning him have in 
modern times been rendered obsolete by the discovery of 
his name and royal rank among the Babylonian inscrip- 
tions. See Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions and the 
Old Testament, vol. ii, pp. 130-133. London, 1888. 
This fact should make us slow to pronounce judgment 
against other historical statements of the Book of Daniel. 
The word rendered inferior (Kjnx) may mean earth- 
wards ; that is, downward, below (comp. rvjn&O, to the 
ground, vi, 25), and allude to the position of the silver 
breast and arms as lower down in the image than the head 
of gold. But the more satisfactory explanation makes 
it a feminine form qualifying kingdom (ID^D). It is the 
kingdom represented, the kingdom to arise after that rep- 



20 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

resented by Nebuchadnezzar, which is the lower or in- 
ferior object designated. In this interpreters are nearly 
all agreed. But those who understand it to refer to the 
Medo-Persian monarchy are obliged to contradict all 
known facts of history bearing on the subject in order to 
explain this statement. Notice the following : 

i. According to Kliefoth the Medo-Persian was smaller 
in extent than the Babylonian. But it is notorious that 
the former, under Cyrus and Darius Hystaspis, was ex- 
tended over a much wider territory. Any trustworthy 
map of the oriental monarchies will clearly show this. 

2. It was inferior in moral condition (Calvin, Auberlen). 
How, when, where, one may ask in wonder ? So far as 
can be shown to-day the Persian morotheism was much 
superior to the Babylonian polytheism, and the morals 
cultivated under it were not likely to have been inferior. 

3. Keil thinks the inferiority lay in a want of inner 
unity, since the Medes and Persians were rivals for the 
supremacy. But the facts cf history do not sufficiently 
warrant this s f atement ; for the union of Medes and Per- 
sians was rather a notable element of strength to the em- 
pire, and the internal divisions of Babylon after Nebu- 
chadnezzar were such that Nabonadius, the father cf Bel- 
shazzar, usurped the throne, and held it until conquered 
by the Medes and Persians. Moreover, the fourth king- 
dom, which figures in the vision as preeminently strong 
and terrible, is clearly not thought of as inferior, because 
composed partly of iron and partly of clay. 

4. Archdeacon Rose (in the Speaker's Commentary) has 
made the strange assertion that the Persian rule was " cf 
shorter duration." But the Babylonian monarchy at the 
longest extended from Nabonassar (B. C. 747) to Cyrus 
(B. C. 538), or about two hundred and nine years, while 
the Medo-Persian continued from Cyrus to Alexander 



First Prophecy. 21 

(B. C. 330), or about two hundred and eight years. If, 
however, we reckon only the later Babylonian monarchy, 
founded by Nabopolassar (the one which Nebuchadnez- 
zar properly represented), we find its duration little more 
than one hundred years. 

5. J. M. Fuller (in the same Commentary) attempts 
to supplement the statement of Rose by ascribing greater 
antiquity to Babylon ! And then, as if conscious of unsuit- 
ableness in that suggestion, immediately adds that it was 
inferior " in power and in wealth; not morally, but politi- 
cally." But history does not confirm any of these latter 
statements. Neither in power, nor in wealth, nor politi- 
cally was the Babylonian superior to the Persian empire ; 
and for Daniel to inform Nebuchadnezzar that the kingdom 
to arise after him would be " inferior in antiquity " is too 
puerile to be seriously imagined. 

The only natural explanation of the inferiority of the 
second kingdom is that which the book itself furnishes, 
namely, the explicit record of a Median regency at Bab- 
ylon, succeeding that of Belshazzar. The inferiority 
is suggested in the statements that " Darius the Mede 
received the kingdom" (v, 31), and "was made king 
over the realm cf the Chaldeans " (ix, 1). These words 
imply that the kingdom fell to him by some election or 
appointment. His dominion was a regency, confirmed 
by the suffrages of Medes and Persians, and, perhaps, a 
stroke of policy on the part of Cyrus to secure the good 
will of the Medes whom he had lately conquered. But the 
regency, like Belshazzar's in the absence of his father, 
was to Daniel as absolute as the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, 
or of Cyrus. Comp. vi, 28. The interpreter of Daniel 
is bound to give strict attention to what he says, and ac- 
cept and explain his statements of fact, no matter what 
" profane history " says or fails to say. 



22 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

thee ; and another third kingdom of brass, 
which shall bear rule over all the earth. 

40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong 
as iron : forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces 
and subdueth all things : and as iron that crush- 
eth all these, shall it break in pieces and crush. 

41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and 
toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, it 
shall be a divided kingdom ; but there shall 
be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch 



Third kingdom . . . over all the earth— That 
this well describes " the reign of Cyrus the Persian " (vi, 
28) and the dominion of his successors for some two 
centuries there can be no question. 

40. The fourth kingdom — The Grecian, or, as it 
is often more specifically designated, the Graeco-Macedo- 
nian empire. Founded by Alexander, it more completely 
obliterated the petty Asiatic kingdoms and subdued the 
Orient to one broad civilization than any of the great 
world empires before it. Hence the statements that it 
was to be strong as iron, and would break in pieces and 
crush whatever came in its way, were most suitable in de- 
scribing it. The best evidence of the all-subduing force 
of Grecian rule is the well-known fact that the language 
of the great conqueror was made the common dialect of 
all western Asia, and maintained itself long after Rome 
became victorious there. The last royal representative of 
the Graeco-Macedonian dominion was the famous Cleo- 
patra, whose death occurred about B. C. 30. 

41. A divided kingdom — No better explanation is 



First Prophecy. 23 

as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. 
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of 
iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be 
partly strong, and partly broken. 43 And 
whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with 



needed than what the prophet gives in chap, viii, 21, 22. 
Upon the death of Alexander the Great, who is there 
called " the first king," four kingdoms arose in his place, 
namely, the famous Diadochi, who divided Alexander's 
empire among themselves. In chap, xi, 4, it is further 
said that this Grecian kingdom was destined to be " broken 
and divided toward the four winds of heaven." 

42. Partly strong, and partly broken— The ele- 
ments of strength and weakness were notably mingled in 
the later history of the Grecian rule. In verse 33 the 
legs were said to be of iron and the "feet part of iron, and 
part of clay." Here it is said the toes of the feet were 
part of iron and part of clay. The main thought appar- 
ently intended by this is that the incoherent nature and 
the diverse elements were noticeably at the extremities 
of the image, and to be understood of what would be 
especially true of the later period of the kingdom. Comp. 
chap, viii, 23. It is not said that the image had ten 
toes, but interpreters generally assume this, and make 
the toes identical with the ten horns of chap, vii, 7, 24. 
Such assumptions, however, are uncalled for, and tend 
to magnify as something important what the sacred 
writer passes over in silence. For anything that ap- 
pears to the contrary the image may, like the giant of 
Gath (2 Sam. xxi, 20), have had twelve fingers and 
twelve toes ! 



24 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with 
the seed of men ; but they shall not cleave 
one to another, even as iron doth not mingle 
with clay. 44 And in the days of those kings 
shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, 
which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the 
sovereignty thereof be left to another people ; 
but it shall break in pieces and consume all 
these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 
45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that a stone 
was cut out of the mountain without hands, 
and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, 
the clay, the silver, and the gold ; the great 



43 Mingle themselves with the seed of men 

— Most naturally explained of representatives of the 
heterogeneous elements of the fourth kingdom seeking 
to strengthen themselves by alliances and intermarriages. 
This is illustrated by the statements of chap, xi, 6, 17, 
where also the failure of such efforts is related. 

44. In the days of those kings — What kings ? 
Those " denoted by the ten toes of the feet of the image," 
says Keil. But we have not been told that those feet had 
ten toes, nor that the toes represented kings or kingdoms. 
The next verse (45) says that the stone broke in pieces, 
" the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold," 
and verse 35 declares that all these were " broken in 
pieces together." But as a matter of fact the golden head 
was first broken, and then the silver part, and next the 
brass, and finally the iron kingdom crushed " all these " 



First Prophecy. 25 

God hath made known to the king what shall 
come to pass hereafter : and the dream is cer- 
tain, and the interpretation thereof sure. 



(verse 40). How can these conceded facts be harmonized 
with the idea that all " those kings " or kingdoms were 
" broken in pieces together," and yet that the stone 
" smote the image upon its feet ? " 

The true answer is, as we have shown elsewhere, that 
many of the details of apocalyptic symbolism are merely 
the formal elements of visions, introduced to make a 
coherent image, and not to be pressed as having special 
significance in the interpretation. This dream-vision pre- 
sented a sublime ideal of world-empire ultimately over- 
thrown by " the God of heaven ; ■' but incidental features 
of the imagery will not admit the narrow process of literal 
interpretation, as the above facts show. But, according 
to Daniel, " the God of heaven" is continually " chang- 
ing times and seasons, removing kings and setting up 
kings" (verses 20, 21); he " rules in the kingdom of 
men and gives it to whomsoever he will " (iv, 17, 25) ; 
" his dominion is an everlasting dominion," continuing 
without interruption " from generation to generation " 
(iv, 34). In harmony with this teaching the setting up 
of a kingdom which shall never be destroyed need not be 
limited to such a specific date as some expositors have 
thought to find in the indefinite phrase, the days of 
those kings. The general idea is that the heavenly 
kingdom will succeed and supersede all these king- 
doms. The words those kings in the first part of this 
verse are not to be rigidly pressed in the interpretation 
more than the words all these kingdoms in the latter 
part. The truth is that in the overthrow of all those 



26 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

kingdoms — Babylon as well as Persia or Grecia — the 
Most High God was setting up his kingdom by pre- 
paring the way of his Messiah. This kingdom of God 
is identical with that of "the saints of the Most High," 
described in chap, vii, 14, 18, 27, where see further 
comments. 

Before leaving this passage, however, we should ex- 
pose the fallacy of those who find in the words " the 
days of those kings " (verse 44) a proof that the fourth 
kingdom must have been the Roman empire. We are 
reminded that the Christ was born in the days of Au- 
gustus Caesar (Luke ii, 1), at which time the Graaco- 
Macedonian empire had paseed away. But let the 
unbiased student look for a moment at the facts. 
Cleopatra, the last representative of the Greek dominion, 
died about B. C. 30, but the Roman empire was then 
just rising. Augustus was the first emperor. If, how- 
ever, we go back to the beginning of Roman history 
(as in the other kingdoms we note their rise as well as 
their fall), then we must face the troublesome incon- 
gruity that this fourth kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar's 
dream was already a century old when Nebuchadnezzar 
himself began to reign! On the other hand, it was three 
hundred years after Christ when the Roman empire was 
divided into eastern and western (the two legs of the 
image, as those interpreters hold), and more than a 
thousand years later before all the toes of this image 
were broken in pieces ! 

Interpreters who stagger at the fact that the Grecian 
power disappeared a half century before Christ, and yet 
presume to find the chronology of these symbols satisfied 
in events more than a thousand years after the Christ, 
are very much like those who " strain out the gnat, and 
swallow the camel " (Matt, xxiii, 24). 



SECOND PROPHECY. 

DANIEL'S VISION OF THE FOUR EMPIRES AND THE 
JUDGMENT. Chap. vii. 

Verses 1-14 describe the vision ; verses 15-27 give the interpretation. 

I In the first year of Belshazzar king of 
Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions 



COMMENT AND EXPOSITION. 

1. First year of Belshazzar — Another vision of 
Daniel is dated in the third year of this king (viii, 1), 
and the events narrated in chap, v explain how im- 
portant a person, from Daniel's point of view, was this 
Belshazzar, King of Babylon. But it appears, from 
other records, that Nabonadius was the last king of Baby- 
lon, that he was not in the city at the time of its capture 
by the Medes and Persians, and that he surrendered to 
Cyrus and was honorably treated by that conqueror. Did 
not Danid know this, we are asked ? And if the author 
of this book knew these things why should he represent 
Belshazzar as the last king of Babylon and speak of his 
first and third years ? Here again we have only to enter 
protest against any assumption of what the Book of Daniel 
ought to have said. The interpreter is bound only to 
that which is written, not to what some one thinks ought 
to have been written therein. He is under no obligation 
to account for what Daniel does not say, but only to give 
a rational explanation of what he does say. The inscrip- 



2S The Prophecies of Daniel. 

of his head upon his bed : then he wrote 
the dream and told the sum of the mat- 



tions attest the existence of Belshazzar, the eldest son of 
Nabonadius, and Herodotus (i, 191) says that when 
Babylon was taken a portion of its population were hold- 
ing a feast. These corroborations of the biblical record 
sufficiently vindicate it from the charge of contradicting 
history. But the author of this Book of Daniel was not 
writing a history of Babylon, or any of the other king- 
doms to which he refers. He calls Nebuchadnezzar King 
of Babylon in chap, i, 1, although other history makes 
it quite clear that Nebuchadnezzar's father, Nabopolas- 
sar, was yet upon the throne. Comp. chap, ii, 1, and 
Zockler's and the Speaker's Commentary on these pas- 
sages. The practice of thus associating father and son 
in the royal dominion is nothmg uncommon in oriental 
history. So, too, while Darius the Mede appears to 
have been only regent of Babylon, and this, too, by favor 
of Cyrus the Persian, he assumes and executes the affairs 
of the kingdom as if he were absolute monarch. In all 
this we see that Daniel is consistent with himself. He 
appears to have had no occasion to speak either of 
Nabopolassar or of Nabonadius, but his relations both to 
Nebuchadnezzar and to Belshazzar were such as to make 
it superfluous to mention their associate regency with 
others. The first and the third year of Belshazzar's re- 
gency were made memorable in Daniel's career by reason 
of the apocalyptic visions described in chaps, vii and 
viii, and the events recorded in chaps, v and vi suffi- 
ciently account for the prominence which he gives to 
Belshazzar and Darius the Mede. 

Wrote the dream — This statement, as well as xii, 



Second Prophecy. 29 

ters. 2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in 
my vision by night, and, behold, the four 
winds of the heaven brake forth upon the 
great sea. 3 And four great beasts came 



4, shows that Daniel wrote down his apocalypse, although 
he does not, like John (Rev. i. 11), say that he was com- 
manded to write it. The sum of the matters— These 
words are generally understood to denote a summary or 
chief points of the vision. They imply, however, that he 
wrote the sum and substance of what he saw. 

2. Four winds — Comp. chap, viii, 8 ; xi, 4 ; Jer. xlix, 
32, 36 ; Zech. ii, 6; vi, 5. The great sea— Not to 
be thought of as the Mediterranean or any other partic- 
ular sea. Both winds and sea are to be taken in connec- 
tion with the entire symbolical vision, the former suggest- 
ive of the manifold forces which are sent forth by the 
Lord of all the earth (comp. Zech. vi, 5), and the latter 
of peoples and nations (comp. Rev. xvii, 15 ; Isa. viii, 7,8; 
xvii, 12), whom he can put in commotion, or reduce to 
quiet, according to his will. 

3. Four great beasts — Interpreters have often called 
attention to the contrast between the symbols of this 
vision and the dream of chap. ii. Fairbairn states them 
very clearly as follows : 

"As presented to the view of Nebuchadnezzar, the 
worldly power was seen only in its external aspect, under 
the form of a colossal image possessing the likeness of a 
man, and in its more conspicuous parts composed of the 
shining and precious metals ; while the divine kingdom 
appeared in the meaner aspect of a stone, without ornament 
or beauty, with nothing, indeed, to distinguish it but its 
resistless energy and perpetual duration. Daniel's visions, 



30 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

up from the sea, diverse one from another. 
4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle's 
wings : I beheld till the wings thereof were 
plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, 
and made to stand upon two feet as a man, 
and a man's heart was given to it. 5 And 



on the other hand, direct the eye into the interior of things, 
strip the earthly kingdoms of their false glory by exhibit- 
ing them under the aspects of wild beasts and nameless 
monsters (such as are everywhere to be seen in the gro- 
tesque sculptures and painted entablatures of Babylon), 
and reserve the human form, in comformity with its divine, 
original, and true idea, to stand as the representative of 
the kingdom of God, which is composed of the saints of 
the Most High, and holds the truth that is destined to pre- 
vail over all error and ungodliness of men." Fairbairn 
on Prophecy, p. 122. 

Diverse from one another — And so well adapted 
as emblems to represent the distinctive qualities of the 
different kingdoms symbolized. 

4. Lion. . .eagle's wings— Combination of strength 
and swiftness, notable qualities of the Babylonian power 
under Nebuchadnezzar. Comp. Jer. iv, 7 ; Hab. i, 8 ; 
Ezek. xvii, 3, 12. The winged lions and other colossal 
animals found among the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon 
add interest to the study of these symbols. Wings 
plucked — This implies the stopping of rapid conquest, 
a time when the power to move swiftly in campaigns of 
conquest and for extension cf empire was taken away. 
Stand as a man, . . . man's heart — This obviously 
points to some notable humanizing of this kingdom, and 



Second Prophecy. 31 

behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, 
and it was made to stand to one side, and 



seems to be an allusion to the remarkable event in Nebu- 
chadnezzar's life which he proclaims in chap. iv. See 
especially iv, 33-37. (Aramaic text, verses 30-34.) 

5. Like a bear — The fact that no wings appeared on 
this animal, and the statement that it was made to stand 
to one side are unfavorable to the interpretation which 
sees in it a symbol of the great Medo-Persian empire. 
But the figure appropriately depicts an " inferior king- 
dom/' as the second one is called in ii, 39, and what is 
further said about it in this verse tends to confirm the 
view which makes the Median domination of Babylon 
the second of the four empires. Different explanations 
are possible of the words rendered made to stand to one 
side. Some explain the word "tt?*?, here rendered side, as 
equivalent to TJ^p which occurs in Job xxxviii, ^, in 
the sense of dominion, and translate one dominion it raised 
up. But the ancient versions and most interpreters adopt 
the meaning side, yet differ in their explanation of the verb 
D^p, which is here pointed as in the Haphel np^pn (some 
copies nppn), not Hophal (nD^n), as in the preceding 
verse. Taken in the active Haphel form it is explained 
as/ 4 leaning to one side," or "standing on one side," or 
4 * raising up (its body) on one side." Inasmuch, how- 
ever, as the Haphel form of this verb is always elsewhere 
accompanied by an accusative object expressed, there 
appears no sufficient reason for forcing such an active 
meaning here. The Hophal meaning, which all allow to 
this same form in the preceding verse, is much more nat- 
ural, and therefore preferable : and to one side it was made 
to stand. This statement obviously implies some limita- 



32 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

three ribs were in his mouth between his 
teeth : and they said thus unto it, Arise, de- 
vour much flesh. 6 After this I beheld, and 



tion, and, like the " inferior " character of the second 
kingdom as seen in Nebuchadnezzar's dream (ii, 39), 
appropriately describes the Median regency of Darius, 
who "was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans" 
(ix, 1). 

The three ribs between his teeth are obviously 
symbols of prey already seen and held in readiness to dis- 
pose of as the beast may choose, and the number three 
most naturally points to the territory of the three chief 
divisions of the kingdom, from which the king derived his 
revenue of substance (vi, 2). It is singular that interpret- 
ers should reject so simple and natural an explanation and 
yet rest apparently satisfied with the view which makes 
the bear a symbol of the all-conquering Medo- Persian 
empire, extending from India to Ethiopia, and the three 
ribs Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt. Why leave out Persia 
and Media and Palestine ? The ribs are best explained, 
not of kingdoms, nor of peoples, but of subject-lands so 
divided and officered for purposes of revenue " that the 
king should have no damage." Comp. chap, vi, 2, and 
Ezra iv, 13, 16. 

Arise, devour much flesh — These words were ad- 
dressed to the bear, but there is not a syllable to show 
that the beast obeyed. The whole picture is that of a 
sluggish animal, raised up, or made to stand to one side, 
and holding a few ribs in its mouth. The call to "rise 
up and eat much flesh " implied a supposed opportunity 
and ability to obtain more flesh than it already held " be- 
tween its teeth ; " but the fact that no response to this call 



Second Prophecy. 33 

lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the 
back of it four wings of a fowl ; the beast had 
also four heads ; and dominion was given to it. 



was seen or recorded by the prophet implies that no re- 
sponse was made. It is perfectly supposable that such 
counselors as plotted for the ruin of Daniel (chap, vi) 
might have advised Darius the Mede to rise up and em- 
ploy the resources at his command to recover the lost 
dominion of his fathers and extend his empire. But the 
torpid Median bear was too contented with his three ribs 
to run the risks of rising up for doubtful wars of con- 
quest and plunder. 

6. Another, like a leopard— The word sufficiently 
designates the great spotted animal of the feline genus 
which anciently infested the wild regions of western Asia. 
The panther and the tiger are sufficiently near akin to be 
included in the same genus. The leopard is noted in 
Scripture for swiftness of movement (Hab. i, 8), and the 
habit of lurking by the way to pounce upon its victims 
(Jer. v, 6; Hos. xiii, 7). The four wings and four 
heads of this leopard were symbols adapted to impress 
upon the prophet the world-wide extent of its con- 
quest and dominion. The Babylonian lion had eagle's 
wings which the prophet saw plucked (verse 4), but the 
four wings of (an unnamed) fowl suggest the idea of 
more extensive conquests. This appropriately represented 
the world-conquests of Persia. If the speed of those 
conquests were not as with eagle's wings, but the slower 
flight of a less regal bird of prey (comp. Isa. xlvi, n), 
they penetrated to the four quarters of the earth, and 
ceased not until the Persian monarchs ruled " from India 
even unto Ethiopia," and "laid tribute upon the land 



34 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

7 After this I saw in the night visions, and 
behold a fourth beast, terrible and powerful, 
and strong exceedingly ; and it had great iron 
teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and 
stamped the residue with his feet : and it was 
diverse from all the beasts that were before 



and upon the isles of the sea" (Esther i, i ; x, i). This 
world-wide dominion, which is emphasized both here 
and in chap, ii, 39, is also represented by the four heads. 
These heads can hardly stand for the four kings of Per- 
sia mentioned in chap, xi, 2, as some interpreters hold ; for 
the apocalyptic symbol for a king is a horn (verse 24 and 
viii, 21). Nor can we limit them to the composite nation- 
alities or countries of the empire, for these were many more 
than four in number. Rather do they indicate the govern- 
ment or dominion as established in the four quarters of the 
world. Observe the language of Cyrus the conqueror, in 
Ezra i, 2, as acknowledging how this dominion was given 
to him, and comp. Isa. xli, 2, 25 ; xlv, 1-3 ; xlvi, n. 

7. Fourth beast — The terribly destructive character 
of this beast is most graphically described, and corre- 
sponds notably with chap, ii, 40-43. In the notes on that 
passage we have shown how the description suits the Gre- 
cian, or Graeco-Macedonian, empire. The power and suc- 
cess with which it broke down and crushed in pieces all the 
oriental kingdoms which stood against it is one of the con- 
spicuous facts of history. Notably it was diverse from 
all the world-powers that were before it, for it was 
of European origin, and carried a western language and 
civilization over all that Orient. Rome never was able 
to carry her triumphs in the East with anything like the 



Second Prophecy. 35 

it ; and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the 
horns, and, behold, there came up among them 
another horn, a little one, before which three 
of the first horns were plucked up by the 
roots : and, behold, in this horn were eyes like 
the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great 



vigor and success displayed by Alexander. Ten horns 
— Symbols of so many kings. Comp. verse 24, and Rev. 
xvii, 2. In accordance with general symbolic usage we 
regard the number ten as a round number, not designed 
in such a context to designate precisely ten kings, but 
rather a notable number, it may be ten or more. So in 
Gen. xxxi, 7, 41, ten times is used in a general way for many 
times ; in 1 Sam. i, 8, ten sons means many sons ; and in 
Eccles. vii, 19, ten mighty ones are to be understood as 
many mighty ones. The spirit and general import, not 
the precise letter, are to be our guides in the interpreta- 
tion of symbolical numbers. 

8. I considered — More literally, / was attentively ob- 
serving. Another horn, a little one — It appeared 
little at the first, but grew until its " look was more stout 
than its fellows " (verse 20). Three of the first 
horns — Three may stand for several, as ten for many. 
The obvious import is that several of the many horns, which 
at first appeared to the seer, were torn up or displaced by 
the rise of this notable little horn. Eyes of a man — 
Symbols of remarkable wisdom or political sagacity. 
Such wisdom would enable one to " obtain a kingdom 
by flatteries,' ' practice deceit in statecraft, and form 
shrewd devices for advancing his conquests. Comp. 
chap, xi, 21, 23, 24. Speaking great things — Utter- 



36 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

things. 9 I beheld till thrones were placed, 
and one that was ancient of days did sit : 



ing arrogant words against God (verse 25), and exhibiting 
vain-glory and pompous self-conceit. Comp. chap. xi, 
36, 37. How all this applied to Antiochus Epiphanes 
will be shown further on. 

9. Till thrones were placed — The rest of the vision 
(9-14) is a sublime apocalyptic picture of the truth stated 
in chap, iv, 17, 25, 32, 34, 35, and also in other parts of this 
book, namely, that the Most High rules in the king- 
dom of men. In other words, as in iv, 26, The Heavens 
do rule. God and his associate judges and ministers oc- 
cupy thrones of judgment, and the forces which are ready 
to execute the divine will are an innumerable company. 

To symbolize all this thrones are first placed in view, 
as in the similar picture of Rev. iv, 2-4, twenty-four 
thrones are seen arranged round about the central throne 
of God. All this accords with those oldest ideals of 
God's relations to the world, by which it is shown that 
no events occur on earth which have not been duly 
considered in the counsels of heaven. Comp. Gen. i, 
26 ; iii, 22 ; vi, 3, 5-7 ; xi, 5-7. Ancient of days — 
Appropriate title for him whose dominion is an everlast- 
ing one. The entire picture here given of the throne and 
the ancient eternal Judge is a composite symbol, designed 
to convey an overpowering conception of the splendor 
and majesty of God. Comp. the language at the be- 
ginning of Psalm xciii : 

Jahveh reigns ; in majesty is he clothed ; 
Clothed is Jahveh ; with strength has he girded himself; 
Yea, established is the world ; it cannot be moved. 
Established is thy throne from of old, from eternity art thou. 



Second Prophecy. ^ 

his raiment was white as snow, and the hair 
of his head like pure wool ; his throne was 
fiery flames, and the wheels thereof burn- 
ing fire. 10 A fiery stream issued and came 
forth from before him : thousand thousands 
ministered unto him, and ten thousand times 
ten thousand stood before him : the judgment 
was set, and the books were opened. 1 1 I be- 



Comp. also the description of raiment, hair, head, 
throne, and wheels, with Isa. vi, 1-4 ; Ezek. i, 4-7, 26-28. 
10. A fiery stream issued — Keil appropriately re- 
marks ' " Fire and the shining of fire are the constant 
phenomena of the manifestation of God in the world, as 
the earthly elements most fitting for the representation 
of the burning zeal with which the holy God not only 
punishes and destroys sinners, but also purifies and ren- 
ders glorious his own people." Thousand thousands 
ministered — This adds to the picture the idea of the 
infinite resources of the heavenly Ruler. Whatever he 
plans he can execute, whether " in the army of heaven 
or among the inhabitants of the earth' ' (iv, 35). Comp. 
Zech. i, 10, n, and vi, 5-8. The number of minis- 
trant spirits at his command is such as no man can 
number. The judgment was set — The great tribu- 
nal was formally opened and the processes of the heavenly 
court began. The thrones mentioned in verse 9 were now 
seen to be occupied, and the books were opened, in 
which the record of men's deeds are supposed to have 
been written. Comp. chap, xii, 1, and Rev. xx, 12. 
Comp. the familiar doctrine of Eccles. xi, 9; xii, 14; 
2 Cor. v, 10. 



38 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

held at that time because of the voice of 
the great words which the horn spake ; I 
beheld even till the beast was slain, and his 
body destroyed, and he was given to be 
burned with fire. 12 And as for the rest of 
the beasts, their dominion was taken away : 



11. Till the beast was slain — This slaying of the 
beast is to be understood as the direct result of the judg- 
ment just depicted. Because the heavens rule (iv, 26) 
the beast cannot prevail, but must sooner or later go down 
under the fiery stream of God's judgment. The destruc- 
tion of his body and delivering it over to be burned 
with fire are symbolical descriptions of the righteous ret- 
ribution sure to come on all nations and governments 
that exalt themselves against the Lord Almighty. Comp. 
Rev. xix, 20 ; xx, 10. As these governments exist only 
in time the retribution must of course be understood 
as taking place in this world. 

12. The rest of the beasts — The other three, al- 
though they had in fact been destroyed before the fourth 
one came to full power, were slain by the same fiery stream 
of divine judgment. Comp. our notes on chap r ii, 35 
and 44. There it is said that all parts of the image were 
broken in pieces together, although in fact the kingdom 
represented by the head of gold fell long before that rep- 
resented by the legs and feet came into being. So, 
though the judgment is here represented as taking place 
and effect after the fourth kingdom has run its course, it 
was holding its sessions during the whole period of the sev- 
eral kingdoms, and by its power their dominion was 
taken away. They were thus shorn of their power to do 



Second Prophecy. 39 

yet their lives were prolonged for a season 
and a time. 13 I saw in the night visions, 
and, behold, there came with the clouds of 
heaven one like unto a son of man, and he 
came even to the ancient of days, and they 
brought him near before him. 14 And 



evil, each in his own time, as determined in the council 
of heaven. Yet their lives were prolonged for a 
season — Judgment may visit a nation or a kingdom, 
and yet not blot it out of existence. The rule of the 
heavens consists with the rule of tyrants on earth, and we 
find no warrant in this Scripture or elsewhere for the 
assumption that God can have no kingdom in this world 
except all wickedness be at once destroyed. The coming 
and kingdom of Christ consist with the lingering existence 
of many forms of evil, and he is to be thought of as 
reigning and ruling a long time before all his enemies are 
put under his feet. Comp. Psalm ex, 1 ; 1 Cor. xv, 25. 

13. Came with the clouds— Such a coming or 
movement of God himself is a familiar figure in the poetic 
language of the prophets. Comp. Psalm xviii, 9-1 1; 
xcvii, 2 ; civ, 3. " Who maketh the clouds his chariots, 
who walketh upon the wings of the wind." Isaiah (xix, 1) 
speaks of Jahveh as " riding upon a swift cloud, and 
coming unto Egypt " to execute judgment, and Nahum (i, 
3) says: " Jahveh has his way in the whirlwind and in the 
storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. ,, But in 
this passage in Daniel one like unto a son of man is 
represented as thus coining to the ancient of days and 
receiving a kingdom at his hand. Whether the clouds, or 
some of the ministrant thousands of verse 10, brought 



40 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

there was given him dominion, and glory, and 
a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and 
languages should serve him : his dominion is 
an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass 
away, and his kingdom that which shall not be 
destroyed. 

him near before him is not clearly stated, for the subject 
of the verb brought is left indefinite, and may be treated as 
impersonal, and so equivalent to "he was brought." 

14. There was given him dominion — The dominion 
is here described as an everlasting dominion, and a 
kingdom which shall not be destroyed, and is obvi- 
ously the same as that which was symbolized by the stone that 
was "cut out of the mountain without hands." See chap, 
ii, 44, 45. It is described in the same terms as that of the 
Most High God, in chaps, iv, 3,34; vi, 26, and must be iden- 
tical with the kingdom of the heavens which rule (iv, 26), the 
eternal dominion of him " who changeth the times and the 
seasons : removeth kings, and setteth up kings " (ii, 21). 

Here we observe a remarkable advance in Messianic 
prophecy. It is the distinct conception of a son of 
man receiving from the eternal God the dominion of 
heaven and earth. We conceive this Son of man as iden- 
tical with the Messianic prince of chap, ix, 25, 26 ; pre- 
sented also again in chaps, x, 21, and xii, 1, under the 
symbolical name of Michael. His " coming with the 
clouds " is the basis of such New Testament language 
as that of Matt, xxiv, 30 ; xxvi, 64 ; Mark xiii, 26 ; and 
Rev. i, 7. His receiving dominion, and glory, and a king- 
dom, is explained in John v, 22, 27 : "The Father hath 
given all judgment unto the Son, and he gave him au- 
thority to execute judgment, because he is Son of man." 



Second Prophecy. 41 

15 As for me Daniel, my spirit was grieved 
in the midst of my body, and the visions of 
my head troubled me. 16 I came near unto 
one of them that stood by, and asked him the 
truth concerning all this. So he told me, and 
made me know the interpretation of the 
things. 17 These great beasts, which are 
four, are four kings, which shall arise out of 
the earth. 18 But the saints of the Most 
High shall receive the kingdom, and possess 



So, too, in Matt, xxviii, 18 : "There has been given to 
me all authority in heaven and upon earth." Comp. also 
Matt, xi, 27 ; Luke x, 22 ; Acts ii, 36; Eph. i, 20, 21 ; 
Phil, ii, 9, 10. How he has his saints associated with him 
in this dominion is seen inverses 18 and 27, below. The 
originality and grandeur of this conception of the Mes- 
siah place the Book of Daniel very high among the pre- 
Christian records of this hope of Israel. 

17. These great beasts are four kings — That is, 
they represent or symbolize four kings. In brief state- 
ments like this, where no question can arise as to the gen- 
eral meaning, the words kings and kingdoms are used in- 
terchangeably. In prophetic symbolism beasts represent 
kingdoms and horns individual kings ; but where the 
horns only appear, as in Zech. i, 18, 19, they may mean 
either kings or kingdoms. Strictly speaking these great 
beasts symbolized four kingdoms, as appears from verse 
23. But any ruler who impersonates the spirit and power 
of the kingdom may be spoken of as the beast. 

18. Saints. . .receive the kingdom — Both here 



42 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

the kingdom forever, even forever and even 
19 Then I desired to know the truth concern- 
ing the fourth beast, which was diverse from 



and in verse 27, the saints of the Most High receive the 
kingdom, which in verses 13 and 14, above, is represented 
as given to " one like unto a son of man." From this 
fact some interpreters deny the doctrine of a personal 
Messiah in the latter passage, and explain the title " son 
of man," as the personified community of the saints, the 
ideal Israel of God. It ought to be frankly admitted that, 
so far as these passages alone may determine the exposi- 
tion, such an ideal personification of " the saints of the 
Most High " does no violence to the language or concep- 
tion of this vision of Daniel. For verses 18 and 27 are 
written as an interpretation of verses 13 and 14, and that 
which is affirmed of the son of man in the vision is 
affirmed of the saints in the interpretation of the vision. 
But on the other hand it should be remembered that 
these two ideas are not exclusive of each other. As this 
dominion is the kingdom both of God and of the saints, so 
also is it the kingdom of the Son of man. As " Michael, 
the great prince," is not identical with the people of God 
(x, 21; xii, 1), but rather their representative and defender, 
so here it seems most satisfactory to understand the Son of 
man (verse 13) as the personal representative and prince 
of "the people of the saints" (verse 27). Our exposition 
of the anointed prince, in chap, ix, 25, 26, confirms this 
view, and the New Testament conception is that the 
saints of Christ shall reign with him in glory (Rom. viii, 
17; 2 Tim. ii, 12; Col. hi, 4; 1 Peter iv, 13; 1 John 
iii, 2 ; Matt, xix, 28 ; Luke xxii, 30 ; Rev. ii, 26, 27 ; iii, 
21; xx, 4; xxii, 5). 



Second Prophecy. 43 

all of them, exceeding terrible, whose teeth 
were of iron, and his nails of brass; which 
devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the 
residue with his feet; 20 and concerning the 
ten horns that were on his head, and the other 
horn which came up, and before which three 
fell ; even that horn that had eyes, and a 
mouth that spake great things, whose look 
was more stout than his fellows. 21 I be- 
held, and the same horn made war with the 
saints, and prevailed against them; 22 until 
the ancient of days came, and judgment was 
given to the saints of the Most High; and 
the time came that the saints possessed the 
kingdom. 23 Thus he said, The fourth beast 
shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which 



23. Fourth kingdom — Reasons for identifying this 
with the Grecian dominion of Alexander and his succes- 
sors have been given in the notes on chap, ii, 40-43, 
and on verses 7 and 8, above. Let it be further noted, 
(1) that Daniel's visions are not concerned with nations 
and governments all over the habitable world : else why 
should he have omitted those of India and China ? Nor 
does he (2) furnish any syllabus of human history after 
the appearance of the Son of man, or the stone cut out 
of the mountain. But he (3) does specify four national- 
ities and kingdoms as succeeding each other and passing 
away before that time, and designates them as Chaldean, 
Median, Persian, and Grecian. (4) In chap, viii, 21, and 



44 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, and 
shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread 
it down, and break it in pieces. 24 And as 
for the ten horns, out of this kingdom shall 
ten kings arise : and another shall arise after 
them ; and he shall be diverse from the for- 
mer, and he shall put down three kings. 



xi, 2, Javan or Greece, is presented as the last world- 
power that appears in the vision of the prophet. (5) 
The " little horn " of chap, viii, 9-12, corresponds strik- 
ingly with that of verses 24-26, which here follow, and 
according to all analogies of apocalyptic repetition should 
be considered as identical, unless insuperable reasons ap- 
pear to the contrary. But in chap, viii this little horn 
springs from the Grecian kingdom. These considera- 
tions, in addition to those previously given, seem to us 
abundantly sufficient to settle the question of the fourth 
kingdom with all who are willing to allow Daniel to ex- 
plain himself. If the writer's own statements are to be 
overridden and set aside by presumptions of dogmatists, 
and by inferences from " profane history," there must be 
an end of grammatico-historical interpretation. 

24. Ten kings shall arise — Here note that, when 
kingdom and kings are distinguished, horns represent kings. 
These kings are obviously a group arising out of the fourth 
kingdom, but it is not said that they were all the kings 
that ever would appear in that kingdom, nor is enough 
said about them to make it clear whether they would 
be contemporary or successive. All that is definite is 
that the one represented by the little horn (verse 8) arose 
after them, was diverse from the former, and was 



Second Prophecy. 45 

to put down three kings. Observe further that in 
verse 8 it is said that before this horn " three of the first 
were rooted up," inverse 20 " three fell," and here that 
"he shall put down," or humble, three kings. On all 
rational principles of interpretation these different ex- 
pressions should be allowed to explain each other. A 
displacing, a superseding, or pushing aside of the other, 
so as to make way for the rise and power of this destruc- 
tive king (the little horn), is all that the symbol or the 
language requires. Hence to assume, as some expositors 
do, that the three kings must have been " dethroned," or 
" utterly destroyed " by the direct act or order of the one 
denoted by the little horn, is to insist on reading into the 
text what is not there. 

On the principle of allowing Daniel to explain him- 
self we turn to the eleventh chapter, and find in verses 4-20 
what all interpreters acknowledge as a rapid sketch of 
Alexander's successors in Syria and Egypt before the rise 
of Antiochus Epiphanes (who is introduced at verse 21). 
Here we find no attempt to furnish a complete account 
of all the Seleucidan and Ptolemaic kings, but we find 
five of each class sufficiently noticed to furnish a satisfac- 
tory explanation of these symbolic horns. There is little 
or no dispute among exegetes that in verse 5 we have al- 
lusion to Ptolemy Soter and Seleucus Nicator ; in verse 6 
to Ptolemy Philadelphus and Antiochus Theos ; in verses 
7-9 Ptolemy Euergetes and Seleucus Callinicus ; inverses 
io-ii Ptolemy Philopator and Antiochus the Great ; and 
inverses 17-20 Ptolemy Epiphanes and Seleucus Philo- 
pator. During the period of their rule these kings of the 
north and the south represented and controlled the vast 
domain of Alexander's empire. They were for the time 
monarchs of all western Asia, and between them, as 
upper and nether millstones, Judea was made to suffer 



46 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

most miserably. Dismissing, then, the baseless assumption 
that the prophet must needs take cognizance of all the 
kings and events of this period, and understanding the 
number ten here as a round number (as explained in note 
on verse 7, above), we find in the ten Greek kings here 
referred to what abundantly fulfills the language of this 
passage. 

Those exegetes who find the ten kings solely among 
the Seleucidae fail to note that these represented only a 
part of Alexander's empire, whereas the Ptolemies of 
Egypt were as truly successors of Alexander as the Seleu- 
cidan rulers of western Asia. But taken together they 
directed the destinies of the Macedonian empire from the 
death of Alexander (B. C. 323) until its last regal repre- 
sentative disappeared in the person of Cleopatra (B. C. 30). 

Those who attempt to find these ten kings in the later 
divisions of the Roman empire illustrate the absurd ex- 
tremes to which men will go under the pressure of a dog- 
matic theory. It is noticeable that the advocates of the 
Roman theory, almost without exception, insist that the 
" ten kings " mean kingdoms. Then they go hunting 
through successive periods of the later empire to find just 
ten petty states or kingdoms that will presumably meet 
the case. Here follow a few specimens. According to 
Mede the ten kingdoms are : (1) Britons, (2) Saxons in 
Britain, (3) Franks, (4) Burgundians in France, (5) Vis- 
igoths in southern France and Spain, (6) Sueves and 
Alans, (7) Vandals in Africa, (8) Alemanes in Ger- 
many, (9) Ostrogoths, (10) Greeks. According to 
Bishop Chandler they are : (1) Ostrogoths, (2) Visigoths, 
(3) Sueves and Alans, (4) Vandals, (5) Franks, (6) Bur- 
gundians, (7) Heruli and Turingi in Italy, (8) Britons, 
(9) Huns, (10) Lombards. According to Bishop Lloyd : 
(1) Huns, (2) Ostrogoths, (3) Visigoths, (4) Franks, (5) 



Second Prophecy. 47 

Vandals, (6) Sueves and Alans, (7) Burgundians, (8) Her- 
ules, (9) Saxons, (10) Lombards. According to Bishop 
Newton: (1) Senate of Rome, (2) Greeks in Ravenna, 
(3) Lombards, (4) Huns, (5) Alemanes in Germany, 

(6) Franks, (7) Burgundians, (8) Goths in Spain, (9) Brit- 
ons, (10) Saxons in Britain. According to Sir Isaac 
Newton: (1) Vandals in Spain and Africa, (2) Suevians 
in Spain, (3) Visigoths, (4) Alans in Gaul, (5) Burgun- 
dians, (6) Franks, (7) Britons, (8) Huns, (9) Lombards, 
(10) Ravenna. Others have taken a somewhat wider 
range, and designated different states as, (1) Syria, 
(2) Asia, (3) Egypt, (4) Africa, (5) Greece, (6) Italy, 

(7) Germany, (8) France, (9) Spain, (10) England. 
Others, following the same general order, substitute 
Poland and Hungary for Asia and Africa. 

Aside from the inextricable confusion and uncertainty 
that must attach to any such explanation of the " ten 
kings," consider the absurdity of making Daniel at Baby- 
lon foretell such details of European history in a sublime 
vision of the kingdom of heaven, as given in bold outline 
in this chapter. Many of the most learned and devout 
interpreters have felt that the detailed prophecy of the 
eleventh chapter of Daniel involves a burden on the 
apocalyptic Scriptures extremely difficult to bear, but 
the detailed history of Syria and Egypt therein given 
is luminous in comparison with this labyrinth of bar- 
barous hordes that peopled mediaeval Europe, and are 
supposed to have come under the eye of the Hebrew 
prophet. 

Those who find the ten kings among the nations of 
mediaeval Europe are generally quite unanimous in mak- 
ing the "little horn" represent the pope of Rome, or the 
papacy as a temporal power. This power was obtained, 
we are told, by the destruction of the Roman state, the 



48 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

exarchate of Ravenna and the kingdom of the Lombards, 
and these three were the three kings put down. Others, 
however, reckon the kingdom of the Franks among the 
three subdued kings, a kingdom which Mede sees contin- 
ued in the German empire, whose kings the pope hum- 
bled, as, for example, Henry IV. Calvin explains the 
little horn to mean the Roman Caesars, who took to them- 
selves the sole dominion of what had previously been in 
the hands of the senate and people ; but he allows no 
special significance to the numbers ten and three, but 
affirms that a definite number is put for an indefinite one. 
Others have understood the little horn to mean the Mo- 
hammedan power, and the three uprooted ones three 
provinces of the Roman empire subdued by the Sara- 
cens, as western Asia, Africa and Spain. 

We turn away from these confusing and self -contra- 
dictory explanations, ranging, as we believe, far beyond 
the historical horizon of Daniel's visions, and return to 
that more simple and natural exegesis which finds its 
main support in the statements of the book itself. After 
alluding to some ten different successors of Alexander in 
chap, xi, 5-20, the writer passes to an extensive descrip- 
tion of Antiochus Epiphanes (verses 21-45), wno * s there 
called " a contemptible person," and described, especially 
in verses 36 and 37, in language closely corresponding to 
that employed here (verses 25 and 26) and chap, viii, 
10-12, 23-25. 

No individual known in connection with Jewish history 
so completely corresponds to these word -pictures of Dan- 
iel as this notorious Antiochus. He figures in Jewish 
literature as the very incarnation of wickedness, and is 
called in 1 Mace, ii, 62, avijp afiaproXog, sinful man. 
In the first chapter of the same book we read that after 
Alexander's death his generals " and their sons after them 



Second Prophecy. 



49 



for many years put on crowns, and evils were multiplied 
in the land. And there came out of them a sinful root 
(pi%a dfiaproyXog), Antiochus Epiphanes (verses 9 and 
10). And he went up against Jerusalem with a great 
multitude, and entered into the sanctuary with contemp- 
tuous arrogance, and took away the golden altar and the 
candlestick of light, and all the vessels " (xx, 21). It is 
further stated that he perpetrated much murder and spoke 
with the greatest arrogance, and caused " great lamenta- 
tion in Israel," so that " all the house of Jacob was cov- 
ered with shame " (24-28). At a later time he again 
sent a multitude against Jerusalem, and prevailed " with 
guile " (30), and destroyed much people, took the spoils 
of the city, " set it on fire, and pulled down the houses 
and the walls" (31). Still further it is written, as the 
result of his continuous persecutions, that the devout 
Israelites were driven into secret places, they were forbid- 
den to observe the religious customs of their fathers, and 
the servants of Antiochus " set up the abomination of des- 
olation upon the altar, and erected idol-altars in the cities 
of Judah " (54). They also rent in pieces and burned 
the books of the law, and committed barbarous outrages 
upon the women and children (56-61). Josephus also says 
( Wars of the Jews, Book I, i, 1) that " Antiochus, who 
was called Epiphanes, . . . came upon the Jews with a great 
army, took their city by force, slew a great multitude, 
spoiled the temple, and put a stop to the constant prac- 
tice of offering a daily sacrifice of expiation for three years 
and six months." 

This monster of impiety is, according to all expositors, 
the person referred to in this book, after the mention of 
the ten kings that succeeded Alexander (xi, 21). He 
was notoriously diverse from the former by reason of 
the daring impiety which is everywhere ascribed to him. 



50 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

Not only is he represented as doing "that which his 
fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers," but also 
as utterly disregarding " the gods of his fathers," having 
no respect for any god, but rather " magnifying himself 
above all " (verses 24, 36, 37). How all this accords also 
with chap, viii, 9-12, 23-25, will be shown in the notes 
on those passages. 

But according to what is herein written this ruler put 
down three kings. In verse 20 the three are said to 
have fallen before him, and in the symbol " three of the first 
horns were plucked up by the roots " (verse 8). We have 
shown above that none of these terms necessarily imply 
that all the three were dethroned or utterly destroyed, or 
that their fall was brought about in each case by the im- 
mediate act of the person represented by the little horn. 
But that he was the occasion of their fall, and that his 
exaltation resulted somehow in putting down three kings, 
is the obvious meaning of the language. Now, the facts 
are that Antiochus usurped the throne upon the assassina- 
tion of his elder brother, Seleucus Philopator ; he super- 
seded the rightful heir, Demetrius, who was at that time 
a hostage in Rome ; and he humbled by sore defeat his 
nephew, Ptolemy Philometer, who had as good a right to 
the throne of Asia as himself. Comp. 1 Mace, xi, 13. 
Here then are the three kings that fell before him : Seleu- 
cus, who was poisoned by Heliodorus, who sought to ob- 
tain the throne, Demetrius, who was pushed aside, and 
Ptolemy, who was bitterly humbled. Demetrius, the 
rightful heir, succeeded, after the death of Antiochus, in 
obtaining the throne of his father, but that did not alter 
the fact that he was put down and humbled so long as 
his uncle Antiochus reigned. Some reckon Heliodorus 
among the three who fell before Antiochus, for Appian 
(Z>e Reb. Syr., 45) testifies that he had seized the gov- 



Second Prophecy. 51 

25 And he shall speak words against the 
Most High, and shall wear out the saints of 
the Most High: and he shall think to change 
the times and the law ; and they shall be 
given into his hand until a time and times 



ernment by force. This view is open to no valid ob- 
jection, for we should no more insist on a rigid inter- 
pretation of the number three than of the number ten, 
nor should we expect mathematical precision in the 
incidental statements of apocalyptic writers. The main 
thought is that the advancement of this notorious king 
who "obtained the kingdom by flatteries" (xi, 21) dis- 
placed several others of royal rank. How this occurred 
is not important to the prophecy, so long as before 
him they in any sense were uprooted, and fell, and were 
humbled. 

25. Speak words against the Most High — As 
affirmed of Antiochus in chap, xi, 36. Wear out the 
saints — By the massacres and bloody persecutions de- 
scribed in 1 Mace, i, which were authorized by him. 
Change times and law — By his forbidding the observ- 
ance of the Jewish sabbaths and feast days, and com- 
manding the people to violate their sacred customs, " so 
that they might forget the law and change all the ordi- 
nances " (1 Mace i, 41-49). Time, times, and half a 
time — This symbolic number is best explained by the 
statement of Josephus quoted above, that Antiochus 
" spoiled the temple and put a stop to the constant prac- 
tice of offering a daily sacrifice for three years and six 
months " ( Wars of the Jews, Book I, i, 1). The thought 
is, one time, plus twice one time, plus a divided time, and 



52 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

and half a time. 26 But the judgment shall 
sit, and they shall take away his dominion, 
to consume and to destroy it unto the end. 
27 And the kingdom and the dominion, and 
the greatness of the kingdoms under the 
whole heaven, shall be given to the people 



the simplest period of time suggested is the space of a 
year. This number is the half of seven, and suggestive 
of a broken covenant, or some disastrous period that 
breaks the sacred number. Comp. chap, ix, 27 ; xii, 7 ; 
Rev. xii, 14. See further on chap, viii, 14, and xii, 7,11,12. 

26. Judgment shall sit — See notes above on verses 
9 and 10. They shall take away his dominion — 
Observe that many take part in this judgment. God's day 
and method of judgment, as presented in this apocalypse 
and elsewhere, are not to be thought of as consisting solely 
in a great assize, a court in session for the formal trial of 
alleged crimes, but also as the execution of judgment on 
men and nations. Hence the " thousand thousands " (verse 
10) that administer judgment and execute the penalties 
of heaven. Destroy it unto the end — The minister- 
ing agents of the Most High are continually interposing 
in human history, " removing kings and setting up kings " 
(ii, 21), and this they will continue to do unto the end 
— that is, until the divine purpose is consummated. Just 
when this end will be, and how it will be reached, are 
matters on which no specific revelation is here given. 

27. Kingdom... dominion, ... greatness — Comp. 
the similar triad (" dominion, glory, kingdom ") in verse 
14. This ultimate kingdom and glory of the saints of 
God are without limitation, extending under the whole 



Second Prophecy. 53 

of the saints of the Most High : his kingdom 
is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions 
shall serve and obey him. 28 Here is the 
end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my 
thoughts much troubled me, and my coun- 
tenance was changed in me : but I kept the 
matter in my heart. 



heaven. Like the supernatural stone (ii, 34, 35), it is 
destined to fill the whole earth and endure forever. This 
everlasting kingdom is no other than the kingdom of 
God, referred to, as we have already shown, in various 
passages of this book (as ii, 21, 37 ; iv, 3, 25, 26, 34, 35 ; 
vi, 26), but at that world-historical period when the Son of 
man, the Messiah of prophecy, assumes the dominion. 
To Daniel and to all the Old Testament prophets this was 
an undefined but unspeakably glorious future for the 
people of God. These prophets were not able to com- 
prehend beforehand the exact character of " the sufferings 
of Christ, and the glories that should follow them " (1 
Peter i, 11), but the Spirit within them testified enough 
to assure them of ultimate triumph. We learn from the 
New Testament revelations that the kingdom of God and 
of Christ is not of this world. Its throne center is in the 
heavens, whither Christ has ascended. All things are not 
yet put under him, but his kingdom and power are the 
mightiest influences at work for the uplifting of humanity, 
and according to his apostle (1 Cor. xv, 25), " he must 
reign till he has put all his enemies under his feet." 



THIRD PROPHECY. 

VISION OF THE RAM AND THE HE-GOAT. Chap. viii. 

i In the third year of the reign of king 
Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even 
unto me Daniel, after that which appeared 
unto me at the first. 2 And I saw in the 
vision ; now it was so, that when I saw, I was 
in Shushan the palace, which is in the prov- 



COMMENT AND EXPOSITION. . 

1. Third year — Some two years or more after that of 
the preceding chapter. At the first — or, at the former 
time ; in allusion to the vision seen in the beginning of 
Belshazzar 's regency (vii, 1). 

2. I was in Shushan the palace— He may have 
been there on the business of the king (comp. verse 27), 
but the language is compatible with the supposition that 
he was at Shushan only in vision. So Ezekiel was taken 
"in the visions of God to Jerusalem," and " into the land 
of Israel" (Ezek. viii, 3; xl, 2). Comp. xxxvii, 1 ; Rev. 
xvii, 3 ; xxi, 10 ; Gen. xli, 1. Shushan is called the pal- 
ace because it was the city of the royal palace, the castle- 
city, the capital of the Persian empire. Comp. Neh. i, 1 ; 
Esther i, 2 ; ii, 3 ; hi, 15, etc. It was fitting that this vision, 
which contemplated the future from a point of time sub- 
sequent to the fall of Babylon, and also of the Median 



Third Prophecy. 55 

ince of Elam ; and I saw in the vision, and I 
was by the river Ulai. 3 Then I lifted up 
mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood 
before the river a ram which had two horns : 



dominion there, should have for its local and historical 
standpoint the great Persian capital, situate upon the 
banks of the river Ulai (called Eulceus in Pliny and 
Arrian). For we shall find that the following vision is but 
another apocalyptic picture of the third and fourth king- 
doms of the preceding chapter. Whether the province 
of Elam was at that time a part of the Babylonian empire 
cannot be determined from this verse, for Daniel's pres- 
ence there, whether in reality or only in vision, does not 
imply that Shushan must have been subject to Babylon. 
Because the Greek and Latin writers locate Shushan in 
Susiana, not in Elam, it is inferred that our book must have 
been written before the time of the Greek dominion. 
Hence an argument for its early date and genuineness. 
By the river — Comp. Ezek. i, 1, 3 ; iii, 23. Probably 
the palace stood on the banks of the stream. 

3. A ram. . .two horns — The animals which appear 
in this vision are not wild beasts, as in chap, vii, but of a 
more domestic kind. No special reason need be sought 
for this more than why Joseph should have first dreamed 
of sheaves, and next of sun, moon and stars (Gen. xxxvii, 
7, 9). But as contrasted with the goat (verse 5), the ram 
suggests a heavier and slower power. It represented the 
Medo-Persian empire at a period when its movements of 
conquest were less rapid and brilliant than at the begin- 
ning of its history. The two horns are commonly sup- 
posed (from verse 20) to represent the union of Medes 



56 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

and the two horns were high ; but one was 
higher than the other, and the higher came 



and Persians in one kingdom. But there is something 
inconsistent with the analogy of symbolism in making the 
horns of an animal represent the constituent elements or 
nationalities incorporated in a kingdom. Horns are sym- 
bols especially of kings, and, even when they may stand 
for a kingdom, it is always with the implication that the 
kingdom is for the time impersonated in the ruling king. 
It was the ram itself, not the two horns, as distinguished 
from the ram, that represented the king or kingdom of 
Media and Persia. See further on verse 20. But we 
have no other explanation of the two horns than that 
they were high ; but one was higher than the 
other, and the higher came up last. This is gen- 
erally explained as meaning that the Persian element be- 
came predominant, compelling the Medes at last to be 
content with a subordinate position. This would be a 
very natural explanation, if, indeed, the two horns truly 
represented the Median and Persian elements in the body 
of the nation ; but as this violates symbolic analogy, as 
shown above, we much prefer the old view of Theodoret, 
which sees in the two horns the dynasties of Cyrus and 
Darius Hystaspis. This is confirmed by chap, xi, 2 r 
where the last king of Persia referred to, and representing 
the second dynasty, " shall be far richer than they all : and 
when he is waxed strong through his riches, he shall stir 
up all against the realm of Greece/' As the several kings 
of the Persian dominion have no separate or special noto- 
riety in the Book of Daniel, it was sufficient to represent 
them by two horns, inasmuch as rams have, naturally, but 
two horns. 



Third Prophecy. 57 

up last. 4 I saw the ram pushing westward, 
and northward, and southward ; and no beasts 
could stand before him, neither was there any 
that could deliver out of his hand ; but he did 
according to his will, and magnified himself. 
5 And as I was considering, behold, an he- 
goat came from the west over the face of the 
whole earth, and touched not the ground : 
and the goat had a notable horn between his 



4. Pushing — For the figure comp. Deut. xxxiii, 17 ; 
1 Kings xxii, n ; Psalm xliv, 5. Westward, . . .north- 
ward, . . . southward — Indicating the direction of the 
more notable military movements of the Persian kings. 
Asia Minor and Greece in the west, Scythia in the north, 
and Egypt in the south were the objective points of numer- 
ous campaigus. Magnified himself — Like the four- 
headed leopards to whom dominion was given (vii, 6), and 
the " third kingdom of brass which bore rule over all the 
earth " (ii, 39). 

5. He-goat from the west — Symbols of a more 
rapidly moving world-power, as compared with the heavy 
ram. Touched not the ground — So rapid was his 
movement that he seemed to fly over the surface of the 
earth. A notable horn — Conspicuous for its magni- 
tude, and so called " the great horn " in verses 8 and 21. 
This symbol is clearly explained in verse 2 1 as representing 
" the king of Greece ; " that is, the Graeco-Macedonian 
empire as impersonated in the marvelous king Alexander, 
who so rapidly subdued all the nations of the East, and 
broke in pieces the Asiatic world-power. The word- 



58 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

eyes. 6 And he came to the ram that had 
the two horns, which I saw standing before 
the river, and ran upon him in the fury of his 
power. 7 And I saw him come close unto 
the ram, and he was moved with choler 
against him, and smote the ram, and brake 
his two horns ; and there was no power in 
the ram to stand before him: but he cast 
him down to the ground, and trampled upon 
him ; and there was none that could deliver 
the ram out of his hand. 8 And the he-goat 
magnified himself exceedingly : and when he 
was strong, the great horn was broken ; and 
there came up the appearance of four instead 
of it toward the four winds of heaven. 9 And 



picture of verses 6 and 7 is a most vivid description of 
the movements of Alexander in his rapid conquest of the 
oriental world, and especially in the irresistible power 
with which he put down everything that opposed his 
progress. 

8. Magnified himself exceedingly — Even more 
than had been the case with the powerful ram. Comp. 
verse 4. The great horn was broken — Denotes 
the sudden fall of Alexander. There came up the 
appearance of four instead of it toward the four 
winds of heaven — There may be an allusion in this 
fourfold division of Alexander's kingdom to the famous 
Diadochi, and the partition of the empire after the battle 
of Ipsus, between Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and 



Third Prophecy. 59 

out of one of them came forth a little horn, 
which waxed exceeding great, toward the 
south, and toward the east, and toward the 
glorious land. 10 And it waxed great, even 
to the host of heaven ; and some of the host 
and of the stars it cast down to the ground, 



Ptolemy. But as this division did not take place until 
long after the death of Alexander, and continued but a 
little while, it is perhaps better to understand the number 
four as symbolical, and referring to a breaking up of the 
empire in all directions, toward the four quarters of the 
heavens. 

9. A little horn, which waxed exceeding great 
— How closely this corresponds with the same symbol 
in chap, vii, 8, must be obvious to every reader, and as 
it is explained below (verses 21-25), as springing out 
of the kingdom of Greece, nearly all interpreters agree in 
making it represent the notorious Antiochus Epiphanes. 
The South here points most naturally to Egypt, whither 
Antiochus carried successful wars. Comp. xi, 25, 42, 43. 
The east — Referring to Armenia and Elymais, whither 
he went on military expeditions of conquest (1 Mace, i, 
31, 37; iii, 31, 37; vi, 1-4). The glorious land— 
Comp. xi, 41 ; Ezek. xx, 6, 15 ; Zech. vii, 14. A poetic 
name for Palestine, which the Jew regarded as the " glory 
of all lands." Comp. also Isa. xix, 24, where Israel is 
conceived as "a third with Egypt and with Assyria, a 
blessing in the midst of the land." 

10. Even to the host of heaven . . . stars cast 
down — That is, in the vision this notable horn seemed 
to grow until it reached to the starry hosts in the sky, and 



60 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

and trampled upon them. 1 1 Yea, it magni- 
fied itself, even to the prince of the host ; and 
it took away from him the continual burnt 
offering, and the place of his sanctuary was 



cast down some of the stars, and trampled upon them. 
The pride and self-conceit of the king of Babylon are 
represented in Isa. xiv, 13, as his saying, " I will ascend 
into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of 
God." Comp. the description of Antiochus in chap, xi, 
36, 37. This host of heaven and the stars, according to 
verses 24, 25, symbolize the holy people of Israel. 

n. The prince of the host — This is no other than 
Jehovah of hosts, called the " Prince of princes " in verse 
25. It took away from him — That is, from the prince 
of the host. Another reading, given in the margin, simply 
makes this passive and impersonal. From him was 
taken away the continual — The continual daily serv- 
ice consisted in a burnt offering of one lamb in the morn- 
ing and another in the evening (Exod. xxix, 38-41 ; 
Num. xxviii, 3-6). According to Josephus (IVars of 
the Jews, Book I, i, 1), Antiochus Epiphanes "spoiled 
the temple, and put a stop to the constant practice of 
offering a daily sacrifice of expiation for three years and 
six months." This also explains how the place of his 
sanctuary was cast down. In 1 Mace, i, 39, it is said 
" the sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness." The 
temple was not destroyed by Antiochus, but "he took 
away the golden altar, and the candlestick, and all the 
vessels thereof, and the table of showbread, and stripped 
the temple of all the ornaments of gold" (1 Mace, i, 
21, 22). 



Third Prophecy. 6i 

cast down. 12 And a host was given over 
to it together with the continual burnt offer- 
ing through transgression ; and it cast down 



12. Host was given — The word translated host 
/fcOV) is here construed as feminine, and subject of the 
verb was given. It appears as feminine elsewhere only 
in Isa. xl, 2, where it has the meaning of warfare or 
calamity. This fact and the absence of the article be- 
fore the word favor the view that a different host from 
that of verses 10, 11 is here intended. Accordingly 
Ewald, Hitzig, Stuart, Zockler, and others understand 
that a hostile host was set or placed over [or set against] 
the daily sacrifice, substituting in its place an idolatrous 
worship. This was done by the armed forces of Antio- 
chus when " they set up the abomination of desolation 
upon the altar, and builded idol altars throughout the 
cities of Judah " (1 Mace, i, 54), and sacrificed swine's 
flesh thereon. Others maintain that, as the word host in 
verses 10, n, and also in verse 13, refers to God's host, 
it is better to understand the same meaning here, and the 
same host as that of verse 13. This host or company of 
God's people were to be given over into the power of the 
destructive horn together with the continual offer- 
ing (?V in the sense of in addition to, along with). The 
same general thought is brought out by either construc- 
tion. The violent horn is permitted to stop the daily 
offerings and act the tyrant with the people of God. 
The words through transgression may be explained 
differently, according to the sense in which the word host 
is taken. The reference may be to the wickedness dis- 
played by the hostile host (comp. verse 13), or the trans- 



62 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

truth to the ground, and it did its pleasure 
and prospered. 13 Then I heard a holy one 
speaking; and another holy one said unto 
that certain one which spake, How long shall 
be the vision concerning the continual bttrnt 
offering, and the transgression that maketh 
desolate, to give both sanctuary and host to 



gressions of the Jewish people, which brought upon them 
these calamities as a divine judgment. Cast down 
truth — Any such triumph of a heathen power over the 
representatives of the true religion is a casting down of 
truth to the ground. It did — The object of the verb 
is -left unexpressed. The imagination of the reader is 
left to supply the obvious thought of the will \ purpose, 
pleasure of the persecutor, who has his hour of prosperity. 
13. I heard — All this hearing, and speaking, and 
responding is the apocalyptic machinery of visions and 
dreams. The holy myriads who act as God's ministers 
(comp. vii, 10), are the appointed mediators of revelation 
(comp. also Zech. i, g,ff.; ii, 3 ; iv, 1-5). How long — 
Natural cry of a prophet beholding a vision of mystery 
and affliction. Comp. xii, 6 ; Isa. vi, 11 ; Zech. i, 12 ; 
Psalms vi, 3 ; xc, 13. Transgression that maketh 
desolate — Others render, transgression of desolation, or 
transgression of horror, that is, horrible transgression, as- 
tounding wickedness. Stuart gives transgression a con- 
crete meaning here, and renders : the wicked one to be de- 
stroyed. A sound opinion as to the meaning can hardly 
be formed without observing Daniel's use of the word 
DDfc> here and in xii, 11 ; D£>i^ in ix, 27 ; and the form 



Third Prophecy. 63 

be trodden under foot? 14 And he said 
unto me, Unto two thousand and three hun- 
dred evenings and mornings ; then shall the 
sanctuary be cleansed. 



DDfcto in ix, 27 ; xi, 31. The adjective form DB$n in 
ix, 17, and the plural of the participle in ix, 18, 26, are 
also to be noticed. A comparison of these passages will 
show that in every case the temple is contemplated either 
as desolated (that is, in a desolate condition), or as the 
object of some desolating person or power, that is, a 
desolater. A comparison of xi, 31 ; xii, n, where the 
word t*ii2£>, abomination, is used in the one case with the 
form Q£^p, and in the other with DE>t^ seems to warrant 
the opinion of Gesenius that the two forms have the same 
meaning, the B being merely dropped, or else the Kal 
used in the same sense as the Polel participle. In both 
cases " the abomination that made desolate " was some 
form of idolatry that virtually laid waste the sanctuary ; 
and in this passage the transgression that maketh desolate is 
most naturally understood of the transgression mentioned in 
verse 12, through which, by means of which, or on account 
of which the daily offerings were stopped, and the place 
of the sanctuary was cast down and made a ruin. Hence 
the naturalness of the words that follow, to give both 
sanctuary and host to be trodden under foot. 
Sanctuary and host are without the article, and are to be 
understood as the same which have been mentioned be- 
fore in verses 10 and n. 

14. Evenings and mornings — Literally, evening 
morning. This is best understood as an asyndeton for the 
fully written expression evening and morning of verse 26. 



64 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

15 And it came to pass, when I, even I 
Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to 
understand it; and, behold, there stood before 
me as the appearance of a man. 16 And I 
heard a man's voice between the banks of 
Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make 
this man to understand the vision. 17 So he 
came near where I stood ; and when he came, 



The mention of the continual offering (T?F|) in the three 
preceding verses forbids our taking the words evening 
and morning in any other sense than successive evening 
and morning offerings, as required by the law of the con- 
tinual burnt offering (Num. xxviii, 3, 4). Two thou- 
sand and three hundred such offerings would fill the 
space of half that number of days, or one thousand one 
hundred and fifty days. This should be compared with the 
one thousand two hundred and ninety and the one thousand 
three hundred and thirty-five days of chap, xii, 11,12; and 
the "time and times and half a time" in vii, 25 ; xii, 7. 
All these time-periods approximate three years and a half, 
and yet there is obviously a design to vary them so that no 
mathematical certainty of reckoning them is open to inter- 
preters. This variety of numerical statements seems to 
be itself a symbolical suggestion that it is not for prophet 
or reader " to know times or seasons, which the Father has 
set in his own authority" (Acts i, 7). See the excursus 
on the symbolical numbers of Daniel at the end of the 
notes on chap. xii. 

15-19. In these verses we have again a fine specimen of 
the visional machinery of apocalyptics. It is in its general 



Third Prophecy. 65 

I was affrighted, and fell upon my face : but 
he said unto me, Understand, O son of man ; 
for the vision belongeth to the time of the end. 

18 Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into 
a deep sleep with my face toward the ground : 
but he touched me, and set me upright. 

19 And he said, Behold, I will make thee know 
what shall be in the latter time of the indigna- 
tion : for it belongeth to the appointed time of 
the end. 20 The ram which thou sawest that 
had the two horns, is the king of Media and 



character analogous with that of all dreams which leave a 
deep impression on the soul. The time of the end 
(17), and the appointed time of the end (19), to which 
also belongs the latter time of the indignation, are 
all to be understood of the consummation of the period 
of persecution and trouble, which is to be succeeded by 
the reign and triumph of the Prince of the hosts of 
heaven. That end is wrapt in mystery. So far as Dan- 
iel's visions extend, the impious horn is the last great hos- 
tile figure that appears on the horizon of the future, and 
with his overthrow the dominion of the saints of the Most 
High is supposed to begin. 

20. The ram ... is the king of Media and Persia 
— We follow here all the ancient versions, which read 
king (not kings) as in the following verse, where the goat 
is said to be the "king of Greece." The word king 
here stands for the empire as represented by the king. 
Comp. note on vii, 17. The two horns are not, as we 
have observed on verse 3, above, the Median and Persian 
5 



66 The Prophecies of Daniel. - 

Persia. 21 And the rough he-goat is the 
king of Greece : and the great horn that is 
between his eyes is the first king. 22 And 
as for that which was broken, in the place 
whereof four stood up, four kingdoms shall 
stand up out of the nation, but not with his, 



elements in the body of the ram, but the two dynasties of 
kings, represented by Cyrus and Darius, which ruled 
Media and Persia. The particular king, which repre- 
sented the ram at the time of its destruction by the Gre- 
cian power, was Darius Codomannus, the last of the 
dynasty of Darius Hystaspis. 

21. Goat. . .king of Greece — That is, he embodied 
and represented the Graeco-Macedonian empire. The 
empire was represented alike by the first king and all 
those who succeeded him. To make this first king rep- 
resent one kingdom, and the four who succeeded him 
out of the same nation another and distinct kingdom, vio- 
lates all the analogies of symbolism. On the same prin- 
ciple we should, in chap, vii, be obliged to explain the 
ten horns as a kingdom distinct from that of the beast on 
whose head they appeared, and the little horn which 
" came up after them " might indicate even another king- 
dom. When a distinction is made as here between beast 
and horn, the horn is to be understood of a king or dynasty, 
not as equivalent to another beast. Hence the funda- 
mental error of those who would make Alexander repre- 
sent the third kingdom and his successors the fourth. 

22. Four kingdoms out of the nation — That this 
refers to the division of Alexander's dominion after his 
death is conceded by all, but that the four kingdo?ns 



Third Prophecy. 67 

power. 23 And in the latter time of their 
kingdom, when the transgressors are come to 



here mentioned denote specifically four distinct kingdoms 
known as such in history may be doubted. For (1) there 
were more than four rulers with separate dominions who 
succeeded Alexander; (2) Interpreters differ as to the 
four, as (a) Porphyry, who made them Macedonia, Syria, 
Asia, and Egypt ; {b) Hitzig says Thrace, Egypt, Syria, and 
Macedonia ; (c) Bevan says Syria, Egypt, Parthia, and 
Macedonia ; (d) others name the dominions of Cassander, 
Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy. (3) But supposing 
the last named to fulfill best the terms of the prophecy, 
it is to be noted that those four remained distinct but a 
little while, and were so unequally distributed as illy to 
represent the four points of the compass. Cassander and 
Lysimachus were virtually put off with European prov- 
inces, as Macedonia and Thrace, for Seleucus claimed 
dominion from the Hellespont to India. (4) The more 
detailed description of chap, xi, 4, ff. y takes no note of 
four kingdoms rising out of Alexander's dominion, but 
says simply, " his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be 
divided toward the four winds of heaven,' ' and then goes 
on to describe the conflicts between north and south as if 
these were the only notable divisions of the empire. 
Since, therefore, the Diadochi ruled about three hundred 
years, and of this period there were four distinct divi- 
sions of the empire for less than a score of years, it seems 
better to understand the number four symbolically, as in 
xi, 4, and referring broadly to the rule of the Diadochi in 
the four quarters of the world. 

23. Latter time of their kingdom — The writer 
evidently thinks of the rule of Antiochus as close upon the 



68 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

the full, a king of fierce countenance, and un- 
derstanding dark sentences, shall stand up. 
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by 
his own power ; and he shall destroy wonder- 
fully, and shall prosper and do his pleasure : 



end of the Grecian domination. Transgressors are 
come to the full — These transgressors are most natu- 
rally understood of those who commit the transgression 
of verses 12 and 13. Some understand the heathen per- 
secutors who fill the measure of their sins ; others the 
apostate Jews whose daring impiety was punished by the 
judgment visited on the holy places of the temple and on 
the chosen people. There is nothing to determine this 
point absolutely, for it seems to have been left designedly 
uncertain, as if implying both ideas. Of fierce counte- 
nance — Strong and unbending, having no regard for age 
or weakness. Comp. Deut. xxviii, 50. Understand- 
ing dark sentences — Versed in arts of deception, flat- 
tery, and fraud. Comp. verse 25 and xi, 21, 23, 25, 27, 32. 
24. Not by his own power — Some think this is er- 
roneously repeated from verse 22, where it refers to Alex- 
ander. Others see in the words here an implied thought: 
" His power was really not his own, but given him for the 
time by the Most High. ,, According to others the implied 
thought is, " not by his own power but rather by his cun- 
ning and strategy." Destroy wonderfully — This is 
generally explained that he will spread desolation in a 
marvelous manner wherever he moves with his forces. 
But the expression is strange, and a comparison with xi, 
36, where the same word (nifc6&J) is used with speak, 
makes very plausible the conjecture of Bevan that instead 



Third Prophecy. 69 

and he shall destroy the mighty ones and 
the holy people. 25 And through his policy 
he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand ; 
and he shall magnify himself in his heart, 
and in their security shall he destroy many : 
he shall also stand up against the prince of 
princes ; but he shall be broken without hand. 



of rrn£^ we should read rw, he will utter ??wnstrous things, 
that is, blasphemies against God. Destroy the mighty 
ones — His powerful political enemies. The holy peo- 
ple — Or, people of the saints, who also, according to vii, 25, 
are " worn out " and bitterly afflicted by this impious king. 
25. His policy — His wisdom and cunning. The 
Alexandrine Greek version here supplies an emendation 
which greatly relieves the syntax of the beginning of this 
verse. By repeating the word saints it reads, and against 
the saints was his policy, and he caused deceit to prosper in 
his hand. All this refers to the well-known skill of An- 
tiochus in statecraft. He not only " obtained the king- 
dom by flatteries," but was full of subtlety and mischief 
in his dealings. Comp. xi, 21, 27. In security de- 
stroy many. In their supposed security, or when these 
many suspected no attack, he suddenly turned his de- 
structive forces on them. This is illustrated by the record 
of 1 Mace, i, 30, f my where it is said that the officer of Anti- 
ochus came to Jerusalem with a large army and spoke 
peaceable words to the Jews, and when he had deceitfully 
won their confidence he suddenly fell upon the city and 
destroyed a multitude of the people. Prince of princes 
— Same as the " Prince of the host " in verse 1 1. Comp. 
also xi, 36. Broken without hand — Comp. chap, ii, 



jo The Prophecies of Daniel. 

26 And the vision of the evenings and morn- 
ings which hath been told is true : but shut 
thou up the vision ; for it belongeth to many 
days to come. 27 And I Daniel fainted, and 
was sick certain days ; then I rose up, and did 
the king's business : and I was astonished at 
the vision, but none understood it. 



34, 45. Without human hand, but rather by some judg- 
ment stroke of heaven. The various accounts of Anti- 
ochus' death imply that he came to his end in some miser- 
able way. The descriptions found in 1 Mace, vi, 8-16, 
and 2 Mace, ix, 1-10, are highly colored, but probably 
have a considerable foundation of fact. 



FOURTH PROPHECY. 

THE SEVENTY WEEKS. Chap, ix, 24-27. 

The three preceding visions are notable for their strik- 
ing symbols of empires and kings ; the two which follow 
take the form of direct communications from a revealing 
angel. The prophecy of the seventy weeks is dated " in 
the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of 
the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chal- 
deans " (ix, i). This was the same Darius, then "about 
threescore and two years old," who " received the king- 
dom " upon the death of Belshazzar and the fall of the 
Babylonian dynasty (v, 30, 31). Under this king, accord- 
ing to chapter vi, Daniel obtained great distinction, and 
held a high office. During the first year of his reign the 
prophet " understood by the books the number of the years, 
whereof the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the prophet 
for accomplishing the desolations of Jerusalem, even sev- 
enty years" (ix, 2). By the term the books we are not 
to understand, as some critics assume, a collection of 
canonical books, but the rolls of Jeremiah's prophecies. 
The plural books (D*)??) is employed in Jer. xxix, 25, 
and 2 Kings xix, 14, for copies or parchments of a writ- 
ten communication. From the rolls of Jeremiah Daniel 
understood (that is, perceived, or discerned) the nu??iber 
of the years of Jerusalem's desolations. He perceived 
that the desolations were to continue seventy years, for 
this is the express statement of Jeremiah in chaps, xxv, 
11, 12, and xxix, 10. That oracle is dated in the fourth 



/ 



2 The Prophecies of Daniel. 



year of Jehoiachim (Jer. xxv, i). From that date (about 
606 B. C.) unto the first year of Cyrus (536 B. C.) full 
seventy years elapsed. As Daniel was carried into exile 
about the time of this oracle (comp. Dan. i, 1), he would 
very naturally have computed the seventy years as begin- 
ning with that date. 

Understanding, therefore, that the end of the seventy 
years was near at hand, he humbled himself before God, 
and made confession and supplications, as recorded in this 
chapter, verses 3-19, and, while yet in the act of prayer, 
" the man Gabriel/' who had explained to him the visions of 
chapter viii (comp. verses 15-19), came and touched him 
and bade him consider and understand the revelation, of 
which we give, in connection with our comments, a new 
translation. In this translation we have aimed to give 
what we believe to be the nearest approach to the meaning 
of the original writer. But every scholar knows that there 
are great difficulties to encounter, and several possible 
explanations between which he has to decide. And there 
is no interpretation that is altogether free from objections. 
To give some idea of the wide range of research and com- 
ment on these four verses we furnish a very condensed 
summary of divergent views. 

1. " The word to restore and build Jerusalem " (verse 25) 
has been supposed to refer (a) to Jeremiah's prophecy in 
Jer. xxv, n (Calmet) ; (b) to the prophecy of Jer. xxix, 10 
(Vatablus) ; (c) to this word of the angel to Daniel (J. D. 
Michaelis) ; (d) to the proclamation of Cyrus in Ezra i, 1 
(Calvin) ; (e) to the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah 
(Bengel) ; (/) to some word issued in the second year of 
Darius Nothus (Scaliger) ; (g) or in the second year of 
Artaxerxes Longimanus (Luther) ; (h) or that of the 
seventh year of this king as given in Ezra vii, 11-26 
(Prideaux, Auberlen, and many) ; (/) or that of the twen- 



Fourth Prophecy. 73 

tieth year of the same given to Nehemiah as stated in Neh. 
ii, 1-8 (Hengstenberg, Cowles, and others). 

2. The " anointed prince " has been understood of 
Zerubbabel, of Joshua the priest, of Ezra the scribe, of 
Nehemiah, of Onias III, of Cyrus, and of Jesus Christ. 
Besides those who identify the " anointed prince" of verse 
25 and the "anointed one" of verse 26, and understand 
Jesus Christ in both references, there are those who dis- 
tinguish them, and make the first refer to Cyrus and the 
second either to Onias III (as Zockler), or to Seleucus Phi- 
lopator (Ewald), or to Alexander the Great (Bertholdt). 

3. The "prince who is to come" (verse 26) has been 
understood of (a) Antiochus Epiphanes, (b) Titus, with 
the Roman army, or (c) some antichrist of a future day ; 
and "its end" or "his end" is explained differently, 
either as the end of the city and sanctuary, or the end of 
the prince Antiochus, or the end which he effects. The 
" end " mentioned immediately afterward in the same 
verse has been explained as (a) the end of the prince, or 
(b) end of the war, or (c) end of the sanctuary, or (a) end 
of the seventy heptades, or (e) end of the world. 

4. The " covenant " of verse 27 is either (a) that which 
Antiochus formed with many apostate Jews or (b) that 
which Christ established with his disciples and followers. 

5. The " one heptade" is variously understood, (a) of 
the seven years in the midst of which Antiochus polluted 
the temple ; (b) of the seven years from John's baptism and 
the public appearance of Christ unto the conversion of 
Cornelius, in the midst of which Christ was crucified ; (c) 
of a symbolical period without definite limit, considered 
as the last disastrous heptade, with which the ruin of the 
sanctuary would be forever associated ; (d) seventy years 
between the death of Christ and the reign of Trajan ; (e) 
last heptade of time, yet future. 



74 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

6. The " sacrifice and oblation" (verse 27) are ex- 
plained (a) of those which Antiochus made to cease for 
three and a half years, or (b) of the final abrogation of 
typical offerings by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 

7. The division of the seventy heptades into seven and 
sixty-two and one (7 + 62 + 1=70) has also furnished a 
disturbing puzzle ; (a) some follow the masoretic punctu- 
ation of verse 25, and separate the seven from the sixty- 
two, so as to read : " Unto an anointed one, a prince, 
there are seven heptades ; and sixty and two heptades it 
shall be built again,"* etc. ; (b) others unite the two 
clauses as we have done in our translation which follows ; 
(c) others, unable to find satisfactory meaning in either of 
these ways, have ventured to transpose the order of the 
numbers, and some make them both date from the same 
point of time, and so run parallel to each other. 

In view of the great variety of opinions here outlined 
we ought to consider the following facts : 

1. The language is notably obscure, and in some cases 
almost enigmatical. The interpreter who fully appreciates 
the textual difficulties will, accordingly, refrain from as- 
suming to make the passage so plain as to remove all 
obscurity and doubt. 

2. There is no probability of arriving at satisfactory 
conclusions so long as mathematical precision in the use 
of symbolical numbers is assumed as essential to a valid 
interpretation. All possible dates and reckonings have 
been tried to fit the exact 'numerical specifications of 
this book ; but hitherto they have all failed to command 
any general confidence. Is it not time to ask whether such 
assumptions of exact conformity are not misleading, and 
without sufficient authority in Scripture ? 

3. There are two interpretations about which most of 
the statements of these verses may find a fairly satisfactory 



Fourth Prophecy. 75 

solution. According to the first, the " word to restore and 
to build Jerusalem" is Jeremiah's prophecy to that effect 
(Jer. xxix, 10 ; xxxi, 38) ; the anointed prince of verse 25 
is Cyrus, and the anointed one who is to be cut off (verse 
26) is Onias III, who was assassinated about 172 B. C. ; the 
" prince who is to come" is Antiochus Epiphanes, and the 
destruction of city and sanctuary, and making sacrifice 
and oblation to cease, are the well-known desolations 
which he wrought or ordered at Jerusalem. 

The other interpretation is the Messianic, according to 
which the " word to restore and build " is the proclama- 
tion of Cyrus (Ezra i, 1-4), or that of Artaxerxes (in Ezra 
vii, 1 1-26, or Neh. ii, 5-8). The anointed prince both in 
verses 25 and 26 is the Messiah ; the people of the prince 
to come (verse 26) is the Roman army under Titus, and 
the destruction of the city and sanctuary that effected by 
the Romans in A. D. 70. 

Both these theories labor under difficulties, and, if put 
to the rigid test of numerical precision, which interpreters 
insist on, both utterly fail. The first has in its favor the 
fact that the prophecies of the seventh, eighth, and eleventh 
chapters represent the calamities of the Jewish people and 
their holy city as reaching their worst under Antiochus, and 
the half week of verse 27 seems most naturally parallel 
with the " time, times, and half a time" of chap, vii, 25, 
and the days of viii, 14. Comp. also xi, 31, and xii, 7, 
n, 12. If this passage, therefore, be explained as re- 
ferring to the same catastrophe, we have a harmony of 
subject-matter and a unity of scope which the unbiased 
grammatico-historical interpreter cannot fail to appreciate. 

But the directly Messianic interpretation seems best to 
satisfy some of the terms employed, and will probably 
always maintain a strong claim to the support of Chris- 
tian expositors. The language of verse 24 is strikingly 



76 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

24 Seventy heptades are decreed upon thy 
people and upon thy holy city, to close up 



comprehensive, and is without doubt to be understood in 
a Messianic sense, as we understand the glorious vision of 
the judgment and the triumph of the saints in chap, vii, 
9-14, 26, 27. It is not satisfactory to assume in verse 26 
a different " anointed one " from the anointed prince of 
verse 25, and the overthrow of city and sanctuary, and 
the entire picture of overwhelming destruction given in 
verses 26 and 27, do not accord with the partial and only 
temporary injury wrought by Antiochus. While, there- 
fore, here, as well as in vii, 26, 27, and xii, 1-3, the Mes- 
sianic triumph may be explained as following immediately 
on the fall of the ungodly Antiochus, there is so much in 
the oracle, taken by itself, that truly forecasts the final 
ruin of Judaism, and the beginning of the Gospel age, 
that we give the preference to that interpretation. 

24. Seventy heptades — As Daniel had been ponder- 
ing the seventy years of Jeremiah's prophecy (verse 2) 
the angel appropriately employs the symbolical term here 
written. The position and gender of the word translated 
heptades attract attention. It is the first word in the 
sentence, heptades seventy decreed, and nowhere else ap- 
pears in the masculine gender, except in chap, x, 2, 3, 
where it is expressly defined by the appositive " days '* 
(literally, three heptades, days). This masculine plural is 
construed with a singular verb, is decreed. The seventy 
heptades are conceived as a unit, a round number, and 
are best understood and explained as approximately so 
many heptades or weeks of years. As if the angel had 
said to Daniel : " These seventy years of ' desolations of 
Jerusalem,' on which thou art thinking, suggest another 



Fourth Prophecy. 77 

the transgression, and to consummate sins, 
and to expiate iniquity, and to introduce 
eternal righteousness, and to seal up vision 



period — a seven times seventy years, which must elapse be- 
fore that consummation which shall introduce the everlast- 
ing righteousness." This seven times seventy is no more 
to be pressed into the serviceof literal interpretation than 
the " seventy times seven" of Jesus's response to Peter in 
Matt, xviii, 22. But Daniel is informed that even the 
restoration from exile, and the rebuilding of city and 
temple, will not terminate the desolations of that holy 
place. The seventy years of exile and desolation must 
yet be repeated seven times before the end will come. 
This thought should be compared with the fourfold state- 
ment in Lev. xxvi, 18, 21, 24, 28, that disobedient Israel 
must needs be smitten " seven times " for their refusal to 
obey the commandments of Jehovah. 

Close up the transgression — To complete or fill 
up the measure of the transgression mentioned in chap, 
viii, 12, 13. Consummate sins — An emphatic repeti- 
tion of the preceding statement, and both together indicate 
that completion of transgressions which is contemplated 
in the parallel statement of chap, viii, 23, where the same 
Avord (Dnn) is used. The idea of ripeness for judgment is 
in both these terms. Comp. Gen. xv, 16. 

Expiate iniquity and introduce righteousness — 
This twofold statement corresponds with the two immedi- 
ately preceding. We understand it of the mediation and 
righteousness of the Messianic kingdom, which is here 
conceived as following the judgment of those transgres- 
sors whose sins " are come to the full." 



78 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

and prophet, and to anoint a holy of holies. 
25 And thou shalt know and understand 
that from the issue of a word to restore and 



Seal up vision and prophet — To confirm the 
oracles which had continually spoken of " the end of the 
days," and of the great day of Jahveh, and of the glorious 
age to come, and the kingdom of God. And this period 
of consummating the old eon and introducing a new one 
was also to seal up prophecy by bringing in the final 
revelation, and making further visions and oracles like 
these unnecessary. Anoint a holy of holies — Institute 
a new sanctuary, of which the first, as also the Mosaic 
tabernacle, was but a symbolic figure (Heb. ix, 8). Into 
this holy of holies the saints of the Messianic age have 
boldness to enter by the new and living way provided 
through the redemption of Jesus (Heb. x, 19). 

The six statements of this verse may be arranged in 
three lines of Hebrew parallelism, each line containing a 
double statement : 

To close up the transgression and to consummate sins, 

And to expiate iniquity and to introduce righteousness eternal, 

And to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint a holy of holies. 

These three lines represent (1) judgment, (2) redemp- 
tion, and (3) completed revelation, and so, in full accord 
with other apocalyptic conceptions, they point to an end 
wrought by God upon the representatives of evil and the 
introduction of a new and glorious age. 

25. Issue of a word — This word is most naturally 
explained of Cyrus's proclamation, written in Ezra i, 1-4,, 



Fourth Prophecy. 79 

and referred to in Isa. xliv, 28. The decree of Artax- 
erxes in Ezra vii, 11-26, or that of Neh. ii, 5-8, suf- 
ficiently accords with the language. Either of these de- 
crees seems better to meet the import of the language 
than any word of Jeremiah (as, for example, Jer. xxxi, 38). 
To assume that, because the seventy weeks are the seventy 
years of Jeremiah multiplied by seven, " it is therefore 
clear that the seventy weeks must begin in the time of 
Jeremiah" (Bevan), is entirely without warrant. Jere- 
miah's word, prominent in Daniel's thought, was that con- 
cerning the desolations of Jerusalem (ix, 2; comp. Jer. 
xxv, 11), and his occasional oracles touching the return 
from exile (Jer. xxix, 10 ; xxxi, 38 ; xxxii, 37-40) are 
not the most obvious meaning of Daniel's language in this 
verse. The word to restore and build is somewhat in- 
definite, and "O?* word, is without the article. We have 
no ground for saying that Daniel himself understood the 
times indicated by the angel. His language in chap, vii, 
28 ; viii, 27 ; xii, 8, 9, forbids our making this assumption. 
He was to know and observe the general purport of what 
the angel said, but it is clear from his own repeated 
statements that he did not clearly comprehend all the 
details of the revelation, and especially " what, or what 
manner of time " (comp. 1 Peter i, n), the spirit pointed 
out. Daniel informs us that he received this commu- 
nication when Darius the Mede was king of Babylon 
(ix, 1), and this was before Cyrus had issued his proc- 
lamation for the Jews' return. Hence the decree is 
spoken of, not as something well known, but indefi- 
nitely, a word to restore and to build. These two verbs 
may be understood idiomatically as equivalent to build 
again, and most exegetes so translate them in the latter 
part of the verse. But perhaps we should read 2T'"y, or 
y&rh, to people. 



80 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

to build Jerusalem unto an anointed one, a 
prince, (there are) seven heptades and sixty 
and two heptades. It shall be restored and 
built with open court and narrow street, 



An anointed one, a prince— We understand here 
the Messiah, the anointed Prince and Mediator of the 
new covenant, whose judgments and redemptive work 
have been so magnificently presented in verse 24. He is 
spoken of indefinitely, but this fact accords with the 
character and style of the whole prophecy. Those who 
understand that Cyrus is here referred to (see above) 
are of course obliged to explain the word to rebuild Jeru- 
salem of Jeremiah's prophecy, and they also labor under 
the necessity of explaining the " anointed one " (Messiah) 
of the next verse as referring to a different person. These 
facts are strong objections to that explanation. 

Seven heptades and sixty and two heptades — 
Here we discard the masoretic punctuation and unite 
these two statements into one sentence. The seventy 
weeks are thus divided into three sections of seven, sixty- 
two, and one (7+62 + 1=70). For reasons already given 
(but see more especially the excursus at the end of chap, 
xii), we dismiss all attempts to find in these symbolical 
numbers a definite chronology. We take the seven heptades 
as pointing to the time of the restoration from exile, and 
the fulfillment of such prophecies as Jer. xxix, 14 ; xxx, 3 ; 
xxxii, 44 ; Ezek. xxviii, 25, 26 ; xxxiv, 13 ; xxxvi, 24 ; Isa. 
xliv, 28 ; xlviii, 20 ; lii, 9. It was during this first period 
that the city was to be built again with open court 
and narrow street. There is a measure of doubt as 
to the exact meaning of these two words. Some render 



Fourth Prophecy. 8i 

and in trouble of the times. 26 And after 
the sixty and two heptades there shall be cut 



street and moat, or street and ditch. But the mention of 
moats or ditches in a city built like Jerusalem on high hills 
seems out of place. Some of the old versions read broad 
places and walls. But the etymology of the words points 
to some designed contrast, as broad places and narrow 
places, or courts and alleys. The probable meaning is 
that, in the rebuilding of Jerusalem, such open courts and 
narrow streets as are common in all great cities were to 
be builded. In trouble of the times — Intimation that 
this period of rebuilding will be noted for annoyances and 
troubles. The disturbances and interruptions, caused by 
hostile peoples, as recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah, fur- 
nish ample commentary on these words. 

26. After the sixty and two heptades — After that 
longer but indefinite period succeeding the time of re- 
building Jerusalem, and, as verse 27 shows, in the midst 
of the last or seventieth heptade. There shall be 
cut off an anointed one — Although without the article 
the anointed one here referred to is most naturally under- 
stood of the same prince so designated in the verse pre- 
ceding. In an oracle so brief, and where everything is so 
indefinite, we should not assume that the writer must needs 
specify the exact allusion of every word. But we may 
insist that he should not in such close connection employ 
words in a double sense or a manner obviously misleading. 
As the word host in viii, 12, is most naturally understood 
of the same host mentioned in the preceding verse, so 
here we understand the anointed one to be the same Mes- 
siah as the one referred to in verse 25, who, according 
to Heb. ix, 26, "at the consummation of the ages, for 
6 



82 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

off an anointed one, and no one for him. 
And the city and the sanctuary will a people 



putting away sin by the sacrifice of himself, has been man- 
ifested." To one who has any faith in the supernatural 
element of other Messianic prophecies there is nothing 
unnatural or far-fetched in this interpretation of Danieh 
The prophet is given to understand that the seventy 
heptades consummate a great prophetic age and intro- 
duce an eternal reign of righteousness. That consumma- 
tion is marked by the notable exhibition of an anointed 
one, but the manner of his appearance and of his being 
cut off is left in mystery. There is no sufficient reason to 
say that Daniel himself obtained any clear understanding 
on those points of the vision. But it is ours, who live in 
the after times, to recognize in the facts of gospel history 
what neither prophet nor angel in those former times 
could look into. See i Peter i, 10-12. And we may see 
in those facts a clearer fulfillment of these words than in 
any other group of facts presented to us in the course 
of human history. And no one for him — In accord 
with our Messianic interpretation we may best explain 
these obscure words as meaning that there was no force 
or helper provided for the Messiah to prevent his being 
cut off. The picture presented is a true parallel of Isa. 
liii, 8, which declares of the suffering servant "that he was 
cut off from the land of the living, because of the trans- 
gression of my people, a stroke for them." Others who 
adopt the Messianic exposition take the words to mean 
that " he had no adherents," or " no possessions," or there 
was " not for him what he should have," or as the Au- 
thorized Version, " cut off but not for himself." Those 
who reject the Messianic interpretation understand that 



Fourth Prophecy. 83 

of a prince who is to come destroy, and its 
end (will be) in the flood. And until the end 
(there will be) war ; determined (are the) des- 
olations. 27 And he will confirm a covenant 



the person referred to (whether Alexander, Seleucus Phi- 
lopator, or Onias) had no son as successor. 

People of a prince who is to come — The Romans, 
as led by Vespasian or Titus, both of whom afterward at- 
tained to the throne of the Caesars. Others, as shown above, 
explain this of Antiochus and his forces ; but it cannot be 
fairly maintained that the people of Antiochus destroyed 
the city and the sanctuary. This destruction, which 
overwhelms as with a flood, is best explained of the utter 
overthrow of the sanctuary by the Roman power. 

Its end — The end of the sanctuary, involving, as it did, 
the final cessation of the Jewish sacrificial worship. In 
the flood — The overwhelming rush of conquering and 
desolating armies. Comp. Nahum i, 8. Until the end 
war — Until the end of city and sanctuary war will be 
prosecuted with resistless energy. Witness the disastrous 
siege which ended with the destruction of the temple. 

Determined desolations — The construction is diffi- 
cult. There are various versions, as " a determination of 
desolations," which is the most literal rendering of the 
words; "a determined measure of desolations;" "a de- 
cision of desolations ;" "a decree of ruins." The allu- 
sion appears to be to the sjnnj, decreed, in verse 24. The 
divine decree is that certain desolations, ending with ruin 
of city and sanctuary, are determined or destined to come 
upon Jerusalem. 

27 He will confirm a covenant with many one 



84 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

with many one heptade, and in the midst of 
the heptade will he cause sacrifice and obla- 



heptade — As the principal subject of the two preceding 
verses is the " anointed one," so here it is the same Mes- 
siah who in the final heptade makes strong his covenant 
unto many. As the great " mediator of a new covenant " 
(comp. Heb. ix, 15), Christ introduced and established 
his Gospel during the last period of the Jewish dispensa- 
tion ("at the end of those days," Heb. i, 2 ; comp. ix, 26). 
For it was necessary that his new covenant should be 
proclaimed fully in the world before the consummation of 
that age. Comp. Matt, xxiv, 14. In the midst of the 
heptade — And so, of course, some time before "the 
end." The word W may mean either the half or the 
midst. Taken in the sense of one half of the week, it 
certainly favors the interpretation which refers it to the 
three and a half years ("time, times, and half a time"), 
during which Antiochus put a stop to the daily offer- 
ings in the temple. But in the Messianic explanation it is 
best interpreted of the self-sacrifice of the Christ, " who 
through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish 
unto God," and having " offered one sacrifice for sins for- 
ever, sat down on the right hand of God ; from thenceforth 
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by 
one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanc- 
tified" (Heb. ix, 14 ; x, 12-15). In view of these estab- 
lished facts of the redemption of Christ we may see the 
clearest fulfillment of this causing sacrifice and obla- 
tion to cease in the offering of Jesus the Messiah, at 
whose death the veil of the temple was rent and the fur- 
ther offerings of the Hebrew ritual were made void. 



Fourth Prophecy. 85 

tion to cease. And on a wing of abomina- 
tions a desolator, and, until the consumma- 
tion and that which is determined, it shall be 
poured upon a desolate one. 



On a wing of abominations a desolator — The 

exact sense of wing is quite uncertain here, and the entire 
phrase is obscure. The translations are various, as " on 
a wing (or pinnacle of the temple) abominations of deso- 
lation ; " " above shall be a horrible wing of abomina- 
tions ; " " on a desolator's wing of abominations ; " " on 
the head (summit) of abominations is a desolator ;" "a 
waster over a winged fowl (statue of Jupiter) of abomi- 
nations," etc. We understand the reference to be to the 
Roman army, which spread desolation along its way and 
lifted up its signs of idolatry wherever it encamped. This 
is confirmed by Matt, xxiv, 15, Mark xiii, 14, and Luke 
xxi, 20. The desolator is, accordingly, best understood 
of the " people of the prince " mentioned in verse 26. 
Until the consummation and that which is de- 
termined — Namely, the end of the age which concludes 
with the termination of the seventieth heptade, and fin- 
ishes the desolations which, according to verse 26, are 
determined, or, according to verse 24, are decreed. Such 
consummation and determined judgment are conceived 
as fixed in the counsels of God. It shall be poured 
upon the desolate — The subject of the verb poured is 
left indefinite, but is to be understood as the divine judg- 
ment implied in the consummation and that which is deter- 
mined. Comp. the use of this word poured in verse 11 of 
this chapter, and in 2 Chron. xii, 7 ; xxxiv, 21, 25 ; Jer. 
vii, 20 ; xlii, 18 ; xliv, 6 ; Nahum i, 6. The desolate one is 



86 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

the city and sanctuary of Jerusalem, the object and vic- 
tim of the wrath of the desolator. Comp. Matt, xxiii, 38. 
The language of Jesus in the passage here referred to is 
a suggestive comment on the words of Daniel. Her divine 
Lord would often have gathered the children of Jerusalem 
under his wing of protection, as a hen protects her brood, 
but her manifold sins condemn her and deliver her over 
to be covered by the desolator's wing of abominations. 

The foregoing interpretation seems on the whole best 
to satisfy the import of this mysterious prophecy of the 
seventy weeks. The consummation to which it points is 
the " end of the age " of which Jesus spoke in Matt, xxiv, 
and the relentless war, which ended in the desolation of 
Jerusalem, occasioned the " time of trouble " mentioned 
in chap, xii, 1, such as never previously befell the nation. 
Comp. Matt, xxiv, 21. In fact, there are weighty inter- 
nal reasons for the conjecture that chap, xii, 1-3, is the 
true conclusion of this prophecy of the seventy weeks, 
and all that comes between in chaps, x and xi are a later 
interpolation. 

To sum up all in a single paragraph, the seventy 
heptades represent an indefinite period extending from 
the end of the exile until the final disruption of national 
Judaism by the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. 
This was a period of nearly six centuries (from B. C. 536 
to A. D. 70). The symbolical number 70 is divided into 
three parts of 7, 62, and 1. The first indicates the period 
of restoration from exile ; the third the end of the age — 
the last days of the pre-Messianic era, conceived vividly as 
a single heptade. The intervening period of sixty- two hep- 
tades is of course the undefined space of time between 
the restoration from exile and the final heptade of con- 
summation. The seventieth heptade is the time when 
Messiah appears, establishes a new covenant with many, 



Fourth Prophecy. 87 

and, to use the language of Isaiah (liii, 10), it pleases Jeho- 
vah to bruise him and to make his soul an offering for 
sin, and so to supersede and do away the temple sacri- 
fices. The end of that eventful heptade is signalized by 
the total destruction of the Jewish sanctuary, which 
pouring out of judgment on the desolate was the sign of 
the coming of the* Son of man and the bringing in of ever- 
lasting righteousness. This was the eonic crisis, which, 
according to Heb. xii, 27, 28, marked the removal of 
the temporary and the typical and the coming of "a 
kingdom that cannot be shaken." 

It deserves more notice than is commonly given it that 
the uniform teaching of the New Testament places the 
ministry and sacrifice of Christ in the closing period of 
an eon, or age. No recorded words of Jesus himself are 
more emphatic than that the end of the age in which he 
and his contemporaries were living would occur before 
that generation passed away (Matt, xxiv, 34 ; Mark xiii, 
30 ; Luke xxi, 32 ; comp. Matt, xvi, 27, 28 ; Mark ix, 1 ; 
Luke ix, 27). Neither the death of Jesus, nor his resur- 
rection, nor the day of Pentecost, marked the end of that 
age. For the apostles, many years after these events, con- 
sidered themselves still living " in the end of the days." 
Paul speaks of himself and contemporaries as those " upon 
whom the ends of the ages are come" (1 Cor. x, 11). 
Peter says that Christ was " manifested at the end of the 
times for your sake" (1 Peter i, 20). In Heb. i, 1, it is 
written : " God, having of old time spoken unto the 
fathers, . . . hath in the end of these days spoken unto us 
in his Son," And again, in Heb. ix, 26: " Now, once, 
at the end of the ages hath he been manifested to put 
away sin by the sacrifice of himself." The consummation 
of that oldpre-Messianic age was reached with the destruc- 
tion of the sanctuary and the desolation of Jerusalem. 



FIFTH PROPHECY. 

THE BROKEN AND DIVIDED KINGDOM AND THE 
END. Chaps, xi, 2-xii, 4. 

To the angelic communication recorded in this chapter 
the narrative of chapter x serves as a preface, and chapter 
xii, 5-13, as an appendix. It is dated in the third year of 
Cyrus (comp. i, 21), and the twenty-fourth day of the first 
month. The prophet was by the great river Hiddekel 
(the Tigris), and was accompanied by some men who 
were smitten with fear and fled away at the coming of 
the angel (x, 7). The description of the angel in verses 
5 and 6 is grand and impressive, and was appropriated to 
a considerable extent by John in his description of the 
Son of man in Rev. i, 13-16. Whether this glorious 
angel was the same whose hand touched him (verse 10), 
or whether he was identical with the Gabriel of viii, 16, and 
ix, 21, and what were his relations to Michael (verse 21 and 
xii, 1) or the two angels referred to in xii, 5, are questions 
more curious than profitable. The doctrine of angels, as 
presented in these chapters, makes Michael the guardian 
prince of the Jewish people, and recognizes the existence 
of similar angelic princes devoted to the interests of 
Persia and Greece (x, 13, 20). Whether this is merely 
apocalyptic machinery, the visional drapery of prophetic 
symbolism, or also an intimation of realities existing in 
the world of spirits, is a question impossible to determine 
with absolute assurance. But whatever the origin of the 
doctrines here implied, it is in strict accord with other 
representations of the Holy Scriptures to suppose that 



Fifth Prophecy. 89 

2 And now will I show thee the truth. 
Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings 
in Persia ; and the fourth shall be far richer 
than they all : and when he is waxed strong 
through his riches, he shall stir up all against 



there is a wonderful world of spiritual life above us. 
God has his innumerable company of elect spirits, who 
minister unto such as are heirs of salvation (Heb. i, 14). 
Jehovah's angel encamps about them that fear him (Psalm 
xxxiv, 7; comp. Psalm xci, 11). But over against Michael 
and his angels are set the great adversary Satan and his 
angels. These latter are conceived as making themselves 
lying spirits to influence the counsels of kings (1 Kings 
xxii, 19-23). Such is our most natural inference from 
the contentions between these angelic princes mentioned 
in verses 13 and 20. The purposes of the kings of Persia 
were liable to be influenced by angelic spirits inimical to 
God's people, and holy angels, like Michael and Gabriel, are 
conceived as fighting against them and frustrating their 
evil counsels. But as all this appears in prophetic vision 
in this book, and is concerned with the form rather than 
the substance of the revelation, it is not important in 
our interpretation to discuss the doctrine further here. 

2. Yet three kings in Persia— Between Cyrus and 
Darius Codomannus, the last king of Persia, there were 
ten kings, and those two made in all twelve kings who 
ruled the so-called Medo-Persian empire. The fact that 
these are not all mentioned, or even recognized, shows that 
the writer does not essay to write down a complete 
epitome of history. The fourth, whose great riches 
are noticed, is generally believed to be Xerxes, who led 



90 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

the realm of Greece. 3 And a mighty king 
shall stand up, that shall rule with great do- 
minion, and do according to his will. 4 And 
when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be 
broken, and shall be divided toward the four 
winds of heaven ; but not to his posterity, nor 
according to his dominion wherewith he ruled ; 



his immense host of half a million against Greece and 
fought the battles of Thermopylae and Salamis. The 
three intervening kings, if one insists on literal exactness, 
must then be Cambyses, Smerdis, and Darius Hystaspis. 
But to mention the first four, including such a usurper as 
Smerdis, and then pass over the other eight, not even 
alluding to the last Darius, whose almost countless thou- 
sands fought Alexander at Issus and Arbela, and whose 
immense treasure, amassed at Shushan, fell into the 
Grecian conqueror's hands, is quite inexplicable. Better, 
therefore, to understand Darius Codomannus by the fourth, 
and explain the number four symbolically, somewhat as 
the four kingdoms of chap, viii, 22. In the vision of 
chap, vii, 6, the third beast, representing the Persian 
kingdom, had four wings and four heads. 

3. A mighty king— Alexander the Great, who has 
already been represented by the great horn of the he-goat 
in chap, viii, 5, 21. 

4. Divided toward the four winds — Referring to 
the division of Alexander's dominion among his succes- 
sors, as explained above in the note on viii, 22. Not to 
his posterity — For his sons and proper heirs were put 
to death soon after Alexander's decease. Nor accord- 
ing to his dominion — Not one of his successors ruled 



Fifth Prophecy. 91 

for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for 
others beside these. 5 And the king of the 
south shall be strong, and one of his princes ; 



so wide a dominion or exhibited such superior ability to 
rule as Alexander. Beside these — That is, others 
besides his own posterity. 

5. King of the south — Ptolemy I, known as Ptolemy 
Soter, son of Lagus, one of Alexander's generals. After 
the death of the great conqueror this general secured to 
himself the dominion of Egypt and founded what is 
commonly known as the kingdom of the Ptolemies. The 
south is a geographical term used of the whole region 
bordering on the south of Palestine, and also including 
Egypt, as may be seen in Isa. xxx, 6. One of his 
princes — Some explain, one of Alexander's princes; but 
the more obvious and grammatical construction requires 
us to understand one of Ptolemy's princes, namely, 
Seleucus, who for a time was befriended by Ptolemy, and, 
some say, served as one of his generals. He had 
previously obtained the government of Babylon, but 
having incurred the anger of Antigonus, another of 
Alexander's generals, who at the time ruled all Asia 
Minor and Syria, he fled to Ptolemy in Egypt. But 
having collected an army he marched to the east, 
recovered Babylon and the adjacent regions, and, later, 
joined Ptolemy, Cassander, and Lysimachus against 
Antigonus, and defeated him in the battle of Ipsus. 
Thereupon, Seleucus, who had already assumed the title 
of Nicator, the conqueror, obtained dominion of all 
Syria, part of Asia Minor, and all the more easterly 
provinces of Asia, and so became the most powerful of 



92 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

and he shall be strong above him, and have 
dominion ; his dominion shall be a great do- 
minion. 6 And at the end of years they shall 
join themselves together ; and the daughter 
of the king of the south shall come to the 
king of the north to make an agreement : but 



the successors of Alexander. Hence he became strong* 
above Ptolemy, and obtained a great dominion. He 

founded the famous city of Antioch, and named it in 
memory of his father Antiochus, who had been one of the 
generals of Philip of Macedon. His dynasty, reckoned 
from B. C. 312, is known in history as the Seleucidce y 
who are the kings "of the north" referred to in this 
chapter. Nicator is known as Seleucus I. 

6. At the end of years — The son and successor of 
Seleucus, Antiochus (I) Soter, is passed over without 
mention, and we are taken at once into the times of 
Antiochus (II) Theos, grandson of Seleucus, and his 
contemporary Ptolemy (II) Philadelphus, son and suc- 
cessor of Ptolemy Soter. Join themselves together 
— Make an alliance and confirm it by intermarriage of 
their families. Daughter — Berenice, daughter of Ptol- 
emy Philadelphus, who was given in marriage to Antiochus 
Theos. This latter is here called the king of the north, 
because in Jewish thought his dominion lay opposite the 
JVegeb, or Southland. The whole territory extending 
from Asia Minor eastward, and including even Babylon, 
Assyria, Media, and Persia, bears this name of Northland 
(Tsaphon) in the prophets (Zech. ii, 6; vi, 6, 8; Jer. iii, 
18; iv, 6; vi, 1, 22; Isa. xli, 25; Zeph. ii, 13). To make 
an agreement — To effect equitable conditions and 



Fifth Prophecy. 93 

she shall not hold fast the strength of her arm, 
nor shall his seed stand ; but she shall be given 
up, and they that brought her, and he that 



make things smooth and agreeable. So it was ostensibly 
hoped to secure a lasting peace between the two 
realms. She will not hold fast strength of the 
arm — She lacked the personal power and wisdom to 
retain and turn to advantage the position which her 
marriage gave her. The expression strength of the ar7n 
seems to point to the political influence which the mar- 
riage alliance was supposed to secure. Nor shall his 
seed stand — That is, Ptolemy's seed, the issue of the 
marriage of Berenice and Antiochus, which it was agreed 
should succeed to the throne of Syria. But the son of 
Berenice and Antiochus was put to death by Laodice. 
This is the reading of the Septuagint and the Vulgate 
(ijnt instead of iJTIt, a change in pronunciation, not of 
what is written), and is much simpler than neither shall 
he stand nor his ami, as commonly translated. But if 
this common reading be followed the most probable 
sense is that the king of the south, her father, and his 
political power shall be as ineffectual as that of his 
daughter. She shall be given up — After the death of 
her father Berenice was repudiated and expelled by 
Antiochus, who recalled his former wife Laodice. She at 
once avenged herself by poisoning the king, her husband, 
securing the assassination of Berenice and her son, and 
declaring her own son, Seleucus (II) Callinicus, king of 
the north. They that brought her — Those who 
helped negotiate the marriage and brought her out of 
Egypt into Syria. He that begat her— Her father. 



94 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

begat her, and he that strengthened her in the 
times. 7 But out of a shoot from her roots 
shall one stand up in his place, and he shall 
come unto the army, and shall come into the 
fortress of the king of the north, and shall 



As her father, however, is known to have died a natural 
death it is perhaps better, in accord with the Septuagint 
and Vulgate, to read him whom she begat. 

He that strengthened her in the times— Her 
husband, by whom she had for the time maintained some 
"strength of the arm." The main thought is that all 
these negotiations of alliance between the kings of the 
north and the south came to naught, and most of the 
parties engaged in them went down in the struggle, and 
secured no advantage to themselves. 

7. Out of a shoot from her roots— That is, out of 
the same ancestry from which Berenice sprung, but not 
from her. Shall one stand up — Her brother, Ptolemy 
(III) Euergetes, who was son and successor of Ptolemy 
Philadelphus. In his place — In place of his father of 
the same dynasty. Comp. the expression in verses 20 and 
21. Shall come unto the army— Many understand 
this of his own army, and his coming to place himself as 
leader at the head of it to march against the king of the 
north. But such a manner of statement would be 
unusual and bootless, and the expression coming to is 
used to denote a hostile coming. Comp. Gen. xxxii, 
8, 9; Isa. xxxvii, 33. It is better, therefore, to construe 
the words in connection with the following come into 
the fortress of the king of the north, and understand 
the whole passage of the triumphant march of Euergetes 



Fifth Prophecy. 95 

deal against them, and shall prevail : 8 And 
also their gods, with their molten images, and 
with their goodly vessels of silver and of gold, 
shall he carry captive into Egypt ; and he 
shall refrain some years from the king of the 
north. 9 And he shall come into the realm 
of the king of the south, but he shall return 



against Seleucus (II) Callinicus, at that time king of the 
north. He not only came to the army of the northern 
king and put it to flight, but went into the various strong- 
holds of Syria and avenged his sister's death by slaying 
Laodice. So he wrought his pleasure with the subjects 
and possessions of the northern kingdom, and became 
very mighty. 

8. Also their gods,. . .images, . . . captive into 
Egypt — These statements show the extent and complete- 
ness of his triumph. He marched even to Babylon, and 
returned to Egypt with a vast amount of spoil. Refrain 
from the king of the north — Having brought much 
spoil into Egypt,. Ptolemy Euergetes stood aloof from the 
king of the north, and did not for some years attempt 
further conquests there. 

9. He shall come . . . and return — The subject here 
is the king of the north, mentioned at the close of the 
preceding verse. The reference is to the expedition 
which Seleucus (II) Callinicus made against Egypt about 
two years after Euergetes had retired from Syria. He 
attempted to recover his losses by an attack on Egypt 
both by land and sea, but his fleet was scattered by a 
storm, and his land force suffered disastrous defeat, so that 
he was obliged to make a hasty retreat to his own land. 



96 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

into his own land. 10 And his sons shall 
war, and shall assemble a multitude of great 
forces, and it shall come on persistently, and 
overflow, and pass through : and it shall re- 
turn, and they shall war even to his fortress. 
11 And the king of the south shall be moved 



10. His sons — Sons of Seleucus Callinicus, known in 
history as Seleucus (III) Ceraunus and Antiochus (III) 
the Great. Ceraunus, after a short reign of three years, 
during which he undertook various wars, was slain in a 
campaign against Attalus of Pergamos, and his brother 
Antiochus succeeded him, and made several attempts to 
invade Egypt. And it shall come on persistently 
— The subject is the multiticde of great forces, and the 
emphatic repetition of the verb come (infinitive absolute 
following the finite verb and denoting continual or 
persistent action) denotes the intense persistency with 
which Antiochus the Great fought Egypt. And it 
shall return, and they shall war even to his for- 
tress — The changes from plural to singular and from 
singular to plural make the exact meaning of this verse 
obscure. It is probable that some errors have crept into 
the text. As it now stands the two sons seem to be the 
first subject; then the " multitude of great forces " comes 
to the writer's thought, and he speaks of them both as 
singular and plural. His fortress is best understood as 
the fortress of Ptolemy, and probably Gaza, to which 
stronghold Antiochus led his victorious forces after his 
conquest of Phoenicia and Palestine. 

11. King of the south— Ptolemy (IV) Philopator, 
son and successor of Ptolemy Euergetes. Moved with 



Fifth Prophecy. 97 

with choler, and shall come forth and fight 
with him, even with the king of the north : 
and he shall set forth a great multitude, and 
the multitude shall be given into his hand. 
12 And the multitude shall be taken away, 
and his heart shall be exalted, and he shall 



choler — Become deeply imbittered and enraged. Comp. 
the word in viii, 7. Come forth and fight with him — 
The weak and effeminated Ptolemy Philopator aroused 
himself from his usual inactivity and marched against 
Antiochus with a force of seventy thousand foot soldiers, 
besides cavalry and elephants, and defeated the king of 
the north at the battle of Raphia. And he shall set 
forth a great multitude — This is by many understood 
of the multitude raised by Ptolemy, and with which he 
fought so successfully at Raphia. But it would be strange 
to introduce this statement after that of his going forth 
and fighting with the king of the north. Better, therefore, 
to understand Antiochus as the subject here, who raised a 
great force to resist the attack of Ptolemy. And the 
multitude shall be given into his hand — That is, 
the multitude raised by Antiochus shall be given into 
Ptolemy's hand. This construction best satisfies the 
meaning of giving into one 's hand, which does not signify 
giving into one's hand to lead into battle, but given over, 
by defeat, into a conqueror's hand. 

12. The multitude shall be taken away — That 
is, the same multitude mentioned in the preceding verse, 
the forces of Antiochus, which were utterly routed and 
dispersed before the army of Ptolemy. His heart 
exalted — The heart of Ptolemy naturally became puffed 
7 



98 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not 
become strong. 13 And the king of the north 
shall return, and shall set forth a multitude 
greater than the former ; and at the end of 
the times, years, he shall come on persistently, 
with a great army and with much substance. 



up with pride at this great victory. Cast down tens of 
thousands — According to Polybius (Book v, 86), the loss 
inflicted on the host of Antiochus consisted of ten thousand 
foot soldiers, three hundred of the cavalry, five elephants, 
and the capture of over four thousand prisoners. But he 
shall not become strong — Ptolemy did not profit by 
his victory, but hastily concluded a peace with Antiochus, 
and soon after retired into Egypt, and there gave himself 
over to the indolence and vices to which he was addicted. 
13. King of the north — The same Antiochus the 
Great who suffered the defeat near Raphia. Shall 
return — Some thirteen years after the battle of Raphia. 
During this time Antiochus had strengthened himself by 
several successful wars in the north and east, and could 
now call to his aid a multitude greater than the for- 
mer. As in the former case (verse 10), so again he will 
come on persistently, for at this time Ptolemy Philopa- 
tor was dead, and his young son, only four or five years old, 
known as Ptolemy (V) Epiphanes, was acknowledged as 
his successor. This young prince was for a time under the 
guardianship of his father's profligate minister, Agathocles. 
At the end of times, years — A somewhat vague 
expression, but most obviously referring to the twelve or 
more years since Antiochus's former attempts to invade 
Egypt. With much substance — Obtained, no doubt, 



Fifth Prophecy. 99 

14 And in those times there shall many stand 
up against the king of the south ; and the 
builders of the breaches of thy people shall 
lift themselves up to establish vision : but 



in his successful wars in Asia Minor and the East. Just 
in what the substance consisted we are not told, but 
probably treasures of gold and silver and implements of 
war. Comp. the word in verse 24. 

14. Many against the king of the south — Philip 
III, of Macedon, joined Antiochus in this movement 
against the young Ptolemy Epiphanes; and there were 
also insurrections in upper Egypt, provoked by the 
corrupt administration of Agathocles. There was also a 
conspiracy among the friends of Agathocles to set him on 
the throne. And the builders of the breaches of 
thy people will lift themselves up to establish 
vision — This is the reading suggested by the Alexandrine 
version and secured by a very slight change in the Hebrew 
(read ^BV *T)P \^). According to Josephus (Ant y xii, 
3, 3), the Jews of Jerusalem, having become enraged at 
Ptolemy Philopator for his persistence in entering the 
temple, hailed Antiochus with delight after his reconquest 
of Coele-Syria and Samaria, received him into the city, 
plentifully supplied his army, and assisted him to besiege 
the garrison which the Egyptian general Scopas had left 
in the citadel of Jerusalem. In view of this coming of 
Antiochus and the great favors he thereupon bestowed on 
the Jews, we may readily suppose that those who longed 
to see the breaches of the Israelitish people restored and 
built would be lifted up in the hope that now, by the help 
of the Syrian king, they would see the fulfillment of visions 



ioo The Prophecies of Daniel. 

they shall fall. 15 So the king of the north 
shall come, and cast up a mount, and take a 
well-fenced city : and the arms of the south 
shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, 



and prophecies which pointed to the ultimate glorification 
of their holy city. The common reading, children of the 
robbers (or violent ones), is open to several weighty objec- 
tions. (1) It is on its face a very singular expression to 
designate robbers or oppressors. (2) Those who allied 
themselves to Antiochus were in no sense robbers, or 
violent ones, in the sense that their conduct could be 
spoken of by a Jew with disapprobation. They sought 
the restoration of their rights, not anything ignoble. (3) 
The words to establish vision are unnaturally explained 
here of an actual fulfillment of prophecies by blameworthy 
methods. We are immediately told that they shall fall ; 
that is, their hopes will be disappointed, and the fulfill- 
ment of vision will not be for many days. 

15. King of the north — The same Antiochus the 
Great, whose subsequent fortunes are the main subject as 
far as verse 19. The exact chronological order of his 
various campaigns is not clear. Cast up a mount — 
Raised artificial earthworks in front of the besieged city in 
order to take it. The well-fenced city (literally, city 
of fortifications) is commonly believed to be Sidon, into 
which Scopas, Ptolemy's general, took refuge with some 
ten thousand men, and held out against Antiochus for some 
time, but was at last compelled by hunger to surrender. 
As a consequence the arms of the south, and the choice 
armies of three other Egyptian generals, were compelled 
to retire before the victorious king of the north. 



Fifth Prophecy. ioi 

neither shall there be any strength to with- 
stand. 1 6 But he that cometh against him 
shall do according to his own will, and none 
shall stand before him : and he shall stand in 
the glorious land, and in his hand shall be 
destruction. 17 And he shall set his face to 
come with the strength of his whole kingdom, 
and equitable conditions with him he will 
make, and give him the daughter of women 



16. He that cometh — Antiochus the Great. Against 
him — Against the king of the south, Ptolemy Epiphanes. 
Glorious land — Palestine. See on chap, viii, 9. All 
this land was for a time under the control of Antiochus. 
In his hand. . .destruction — In his hand he held the 
power to destroy, as some of Ptolemy's forces bitterly 
realized, but he did not employ his force against the Jew- 
ish people, but rewarded them for the favors they showed 
him. 

17. Set his face to come — Reference to the purpose 
of Antiochus to invade Egypt with the strength of 
his whole kingdom, that is, to concentrate his entire 
military force against Egypt. And equitable condi- 
tions with him he will make — For the word D*n£ read 
Dne^D, as in verse 6, and for n^l read n^_. Reference 
to the treaty between Antiochus and Ptolemy, of which 
the betrothal next mentioned was one of the equitable 
considerations. Daughter of women — Cleopatra, 
daughter of Antiochus, who was betrothed to the youthful 
Ptolemy, and married to him some five years later. She 
is probably called daughter of women because of her 



102 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

to corrupt her ; but she shall not stand, nei- 
ther be for him. 18 After this shall he turn 
his face unto the isles, and shall take many : 
but a prince shall cause the reproach offered 



attractiveness and beauty; equivalent to "choice among 
women," " beautiful of women." To corrupt her — Or, 
to destroy it. It is difficult to determine whether the suffix 
refers to Cleopatra or the kingdom of Ptolemy. The sim- 
plest construction is to make the daughter the main sub- 
ject throughout this latter part of the verse. Then the 
thought is that Antiochus was willing to sacrifice his 
daughter to accomplish his ambitious designs ; but in this 
he missed his mark, for she will not stand, neither 
be for him. She adhered to the fortunes of her husband 
and the interests of Egypt, and rendered her father no 
help in his heartless plans. Those who refer the suffix to 
the kingdom understand the plan of Antiochus as the sub- 
ject of these latter verbs, and render, it shall not avail, and 
it shall not be for him, that is, not for his advantage. 

18. Unto the isles — The word is used not only of 
islands, but also of lands bordering on the sea, coast lands. 
Take many— About B. C. 197 Antiochus the Great 
made an expedition against the islands and coasts of Asia 
Minor. He passed the winter at Ephesus, and in the 
following spring passed over to the coast of Greece and 
Macedonia, and provoked the Romans to interfere with 
his projects of conquest. A prince — p¥£, chieftain, 
leader. The reference is to the Roman general Lucius 
Scipio, called also Asiaticus, on account of his brilliant 
victory over Antiochus at Magnesia, in Asia Minor. 
The reproach offered by him — Literally, his reproach 



Fifth Prophecy. 103 

by him to cease ; yea, moreover, he shall cause 
his reproach to turn upon him. 19 Then he 
shall turn his face toward the fortresses of his 
own land : but he shall stumble and fall, and 



to him j that is, the reproachful answer of Antiochus to 
the Roman deputy who demanded why he appeared on 
the coasts of Europe with such a powerful force. Polybius 
(Book xvii, 31, 32) informs us that the king Antiochus 
answered the Romans contemptuously, and said that he 
desired them to abstain from meddling with the affairs of 
Asia, and that he himself was competent to manage his 
own business. This reproach Scipio caused to cease by 
utterly defeating Antiochus and imposing on him most 
humiliating conditions. Yea, moreover — A very 
doubtful rendering of w|, which is always used with a 
negative meaning, as without, except that. The Greek 
versions vary here, and there is, perhaps, some corruption 
in the Hebrew text. Graetz suggests the emendation N ruo, 
in the cheek. Cause his reproach to turn upon him 
— By the successive defeats which Antiochus suffered 
from the Romans, and especially at Magnesia (B. C. 190), 
Avhere his vast army of seventy thousand foot soldiers and 
twelve thousand cavalry were completely overthrown, and 
the king, having barely escaped, sued for peace, and was 
compelled to surrender all his possessions west of the 
Taurus. 

19. Toward the fortresses of his own land — 
Instead of pursuing ambitious schemes of conquest in the 
West he now turns in humiliation to intrench himself in 
his own narrowed Syrian dominions. Stumble ... fall 
. . .not found — The close of Antiochus's career is left in 



IP4 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

shall not be found. 20 Then shall stand up 
in his place one that shall cause an exactor 
to pass through the glory of the kingdom : 
but within few days he shall be destroyed, 
neither in anger, nor in battle. 



much obscurity, but he is said to have fallen in an at- 
tempt to plunder the temple of Bel in Elymais. 

20. One causing an exactor to pass — This refers 
to the son and successor of Antiochus the Great, known 
as Seleucus (IV) Philopator, who was compelled to exact 
large tribute of money to meet the obligations incurred 
by his father. The exactor was his treasurer, Heliodorus, 
who is said to have been sent to Jerusalem to seize upon 
the treasures of the temple. The glory of the king- 
dom has been commonly supposed to refer to Jerusalem, 
or Judea, but it is better to understand it, more generally , 
of the most beautiful and productive parts of the king- 
dom. But in verse 21 the kindred phrase, " honor of the 
kingdom," means the royal dignity, and Bevan suggests 
that the words exactor and causing to pass (fe$J andTDJJB) 
be transposed, so as to read an exactor causing the glory 
of the kingdom to pass away. Not in anger — Not as 
did his father, who fell before the infuriated passion of 
those whose temple he sought to violate. Nor in battle 
— He is believed to have been poisoned by Heliodorus, 
who wished to usurp his throne. 

The rest of this chapter is an apocalyptic portraiture of 
Antiochus Epiphanes, that " wicked root " (1 Mace, i, 10) 
of the Diadochi, of whom so much has already been 
said in chaps, vii and viii. The entire passage (verses 
21-45) should be divided into four paragraphs. The 
first (21-24) gives a general description of the vile king, 



Fifth Prophecy. 105 

21 And in his place shall stand up a con- 
temptible person, to whom they had not 
given the honor of the kingdom : but he 
shall come in time of security, and shall 



(a) by characterizing him as " contemptible " ( n J^), {o) 
as obtaining the kingdom dishonorably, (c) as sweeping 
his enemies away before him, (d) as practicing deceit, 
(e) as securing the friendship of the powerful by lavish 
distribution of spoils, and (/) as forming shrewd devices 
against the strongholds of the realm which did not sur- 
render to him. Many interpreters understand these verses 
as referring to Antiochus's first campaign against Egypt ; 
but as there is no clear reference to Egypt before verse 25, 
and no clear indication throughout the entire description 
of an attempt to furnish exact chronological data of An- 
tiochus's various movements, it seems better to understand 
this first paragraph (21-24) in a more general way, not 
excluding, however, references to his earliest dealings 
with Egypt. 

21. Contemptible person — Antiochus (IV) Epipha- 
nes, identical with the " little horn " described in chaps, 
vii and viii. To whom they gave not the honor of 
the kingdom — The subject of the verb gave is indefi- 
nite, men gave not, or there was not given. The thought 
is that he was not the rightful heir of the kingdom, and 
came not into honorable possession of the throne. As 
shown in notes on chap, vii, 24, he pushed aside several 
others who had a better claim to the throne than he, 
among them Demetrius, the lawful successor of Seleucus 
Philopator. In time of security — When men were care- 
less, and not expecting change. Comp. the use of the word 
in Jer. xxii, 21 ; Ezek. xvi, 49. So the word also carries 



io6 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22 And 
arms shall be utterly overwhelmed before 
him, and shall be broken, and also a cov- 
enant-prince. 23 And after the league made 



with it the idea of unawares, unexpectedly . The flatteries, 
or dissimulation, by which he obtained the kingdom re- 
fer to the artful representations of his claims and plans, by 
which he induced Eumenes and Attalus, kings of Perga- 
mus, to help him expel Heliodorus and recover the 
throne for his own family. The same arts of dissimula- 
tion, doubtless, served him further in adjusting things at 
Antioch after the overthrow of the usurper Heliodorus. 

22. Arms shall be utterly overwhelmed before 
him — This reading is secured by the simple pointing of 
siDEVl as Niphal infinitive absolute. It avoids the strange 
metaphor of the common reading, arms of the flood, and 
seems every way preferable. Then the sense is that the 
forces arrayed against the king shall be utterly defeated 
and broken, and the arms are all the military opposition, 
whether of Heliodorus or of the Egyptian forces, which 
Antiochus had to encounter at the beginning of his ca- 
reer. Covenant-prince — Most naturally explained of 
the high priest Onias III, who was deposed and after- 
ward put to death by order of Antiochus. 

23. After the league made with him — Or, from 
the time of the joining unto him. Many understand here 
a special reference to the league of friendly relations with 
Egypt after the capture of Pelusium, but we prefer, as 
stated above, to understand a more general reference to 
all the cases of agreements made by Antiochus, whether 
with the kings of Pergamus, or Jews at Jerusalem, or 



Fifth Prophecy. 107 

with him he shall work deceitfully ; and 
he shall go up and become strong with a 
few people. 24 In time of security and 
with the fat ones of the province shall he 
come ; and he shall do that which his fathers 
have not done, nor his fathers' fathers ; he 
shall scatter among them prey, and spoil, and 



Egyptians, or any others who for any reason saw fit to 
join themselves unto him by a league of friendship. Not 
only from the time of making such leagues, but also by 
means of them (the preposition \0 may be used in either 
sense), the crafty Antiochus worked deceitfully, and made 
his alliances subserve the plans of his ambition. He 
shall go up — That is, on various military expeditions. 
To confine this to "his march up the Nile, as far as 
Memphis," is to put upon the words a special meaning 
which the context does not warrant. Strong with a 
few people — His success was not so much by numbers 
as by shrewd policy. 

24. In time of security and with the fat ones 
of the province shall he come — Not only will he 
take advantage of the time of security (comp. verse 21), 
but also with the help and fellowship of the influential 
and wealthy men of the province of Syria, who became 
his strongest chiefs and warriors, he will accomplish that 
which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' 
fathers. This sense of D*30#D appears in Isa. x, 16, and 
Psalm lxxviii, 31, and is more suitable here than the idea 
of richest portions of the province, as most expositors hold ; 
for it would be strange to call whole provinces like Pales- 
tine or Egypt portions or "places of a province." Scat- 



108 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

substance : yea, he shall devise his devices 
against the strongholds, even for a time. 

25 And he shall stir up his power and his 
courage against the king of the south with a 



ter among them— Among the fat ones of the province, 
especially such as may be a help to him in time of war. 
We are informed in 1 Mace, iii, 28, of the habit of x\ntio- 
chus to open his treasures liberally to his soldiers, and 
give them a year's pay in advance in order to secure 
their ready cooperation when he should have need of 
them. Devices against the strongholds — As no 
particular strongholds are specified, the reference accords 
with the general character of the whole paragraph (21-24), 
and is to be understood of any and all strong, fortified 
places which held out against him. 

25-28. In this paragraph we have an account of Antio- 
chus's successful campaigns against Egypt, and the passage 
seems to summarize all his operations against " the king of 
the south " up to the time of the invasion mentioned in 
verses 29 and 30, when the Romans interfered. This view 
is more in keeping with the language of the writer than 
that which finds a first invasion of Egypt in verses 23, 24, 
a second in 25-28, and a third in 29-32. The text gives 
no sufficient warrant for such a particularizing exposition. 

25. Against the king of the south — Ptolemy (VI) 
Philometor, with whom his younger brother (known as 
Physcon, also as Euergetes II) was also for a time associ- 
ated in opposition to the attacks of Antiochus. Upon 
the death of Ptolemy Epiphanes, his wife Cleopatra held 
the regency for her two sons, Philometor and Euergetes. 
It was during this time that Antiochus Epiphanes enjoyed 



Fifth Prophecy. 109 

great army ; and the king of the south shall 
war in battle with an exceeding great and 
mighty army : but he shall not stand, for they 
shall devise devices against him. 26 And 
they that eat of his dainties shall break him 
down, and his army shall be overwhelmed, 



his greatest triumphs in Egypt. He marched thither with 
a great army and encountered the Egyptian generals, who 
opposed him with an exceeding great and mighty 
army ; but Ptolemy's generals were defeated near 
Pelusium, and that city and Memphis and most of lower 
Egypt fell into the hands of Antiochus, and the youthful 
king Philometor was taken prisoner. During his captiv- 
ity his younger brother Physcon was declared king, and 
Antiochus, under the pretext of restoring Philometor to 
the throne, made war against Physcon in Alexandria, ex- 
pelled him from his dominion, and reinstated Philometor. 
Verses 25-27 find their explanation in these facts. He 
shall not stand — The king of the south, Ptolemy 
Philometor, will not be able to resist the army of Antio- 
chus. Devise devices against him— There was 
treachery in Ptolemy's camp, and the guileful Antiochus 
was skillful in making the most of such circumstances, 
and so soon succeeded in getting the person of the young 
king into his own power. 

26. They that eat his dainties— The courtiers of 
Ptolemy, who, after the death of his mother, Cleopatra, 
took the charge of him and the affairs of his kingdom. 
Shall break him down — Such treachery in his own 
camp could scarcely fail to break him down, by nullifying 
the most heroic plans of self-defense. His army shall 



no The Prophecies of Daniel. 

and many shall fall down slain. 27 And as 
for both these kings, their hearts shall be 
to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at 
one table : but it shall not prosper ; for yet 
the end shall be at the time appointed. 
28 Then shall he return into his land with 
great substance ; and his heart shall be against 



be overwhelmed — The context seems to require this 
reading (&]t?$^ as in verse 22, instead of *ltoB^) ; for 
Ptolemy's forces did not overwhelm, but were over- 
whelmed. 

27. Both these kings — Antiochus and Ptolemy Phi- 
lometor, then a prisoner. Their hearts to mischief — 
In the pretext of restoring the young Ptolemy to his king- 
dom Antiochus doubtless meditated ulterior plans of 
mischief ; and at the same time Ptolemy was not too 
young to see that his crafty conqueror was disposed 
to make him a tool to further his selfish ambition, and he 
resolved in his own heart to retaliate when the opportunity 
came. Lies at one table — While feasting together in 
the camp and at the table of Antiochus they both con- 
cealed their hostile purposes against each other. It 
shall not prosper — Their duplicity will accomplish 
nothing permanent for either of them. End at the 
appointed time — The end of all these miserable wars 
has its appointed time in the counsels of God, and the end 
of the schemes and rule of both these kings is accord- 
ingly determined. So, too, the end of this campaign of 
Antiochus and his haughty domination of Egypt. 

28. Return with great substance — That is, after 
his successful operations in Egypt. His heart against 



Fifth Prophecy. hi 

the holy covenant ; and he shall do his pleas- 
ure, and return to his own land. 

29 At the time appointed he shall return, 
and come into the south ; but it shall not be 



the holy covenant — The covenant of holiness is here 
put by metonymy for the people of the covenant, the 
Jews. On his return from Egypt Antiochus heard that a 
rumor of his death had been reported in Jerusalem, and 
that the Jews were in rebellion against his dominion. He 
therefore went up against the Jewish capital, committed 
great outrages upon the people, desecrated the temple, 
and carried off with him a vast amount of treasures which 
he found there. See 1 Mace, i, 20-24. Return to his 
own land — This statement, twice employed in this verse, 
refers, in the first instance, to his departure from Egypt for 
his own land, and, in the second, to his departure from 
Jerusalem for the same destination. So he took Jerusa- 
lem on his way from Egypt to Syria. 

29-39. In this paragraph we have (a) Antiochus's unsuc- 
cessful invasion of Egypt, (b) his profanation of the Jewish 
sanctuary, and the Maccabean struggles against him, and 
(c) a description of his desperate character as a lawless 
man of sin. Observe how each successive paragraph of 
this section (21-45) i s adapted to deepen the impression 
of the wickedness and daring of the impious Antiochus. 

29. At the time appointed — These words have the 
same meaning as in verse 27. The appointed time is a def- 
inite period seen in prophetic vision, or contemplated in 
prophecy, as a limit fixed in the purposes of God. The 
context must in each case determine the time-relation. 
Return, and come into the south — Or, come again 
into the south. After his departure from Egypt the two 



ii2 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

in the latter time as it was in the former. 
30 For ships of Kittim shall come against 
him, and he shall be dejected, and shall 



Ptolemy brothers, Philornetor and Physcon, united their 
fortunes to make common defense against the obvious de- 
signs of Antiochus, who had left a strong garrison in Pelu- 
shim. Hearing of this combination against him, he was 
filled with madness, and prepared for a new invasion of 
Egypt, sending a fleet at the same time to Cyprus to take 
possession of that island. He marched with his army 
directly against Alexandria, but Philornetor had appealed 
to Rome for help, and Antiochus found, to his bitter cha- 
grin, that he could not accomplish his plans, and it could 
not be in the latter time as it was in the former. 
These last words (for the idiom comp. Josh, xiv, n; Ezek. 
xviii, 4) show that the writer contemplated all the previous 
assaults of Antiochus on Egypt as one former invasion. 

30. Ships of Kittim— The Roman fleet under C. 
Popilius Laenas. The name Kittim or Chittim was used 
by Palestinean writers to denote all the islands and north- 
ern coast lands of the Mediterranean, from Cyprus on the 
east to Spain in the west. So it had much the same sig- 
nificance with Eastern people as the term Levant has in 
the west of these coasts. He shall be dejected — The 
word so rendered conveys the idea of turning pale and 
fainting. He suddenly became limp. It is said that 
Popilius met Antiochus as he was advancing upon Alexan- 
dria, and in the name of the Roman senate ordered 
him to make peace with Ptolemy and withdraw from 
Egypt While Antiochus hesitated and said that he 
would consider the matter, the Roman deputy drew a 
circle about him in the sand and quietly admonished 



Fifth Prophecy. 113 

return, and have indignation against the 
holy covenant, and shall do his pleasure: 
he shall even return, and have regard 
unto them that forsake the holy covenant. 
31 And arms from him shall stand, and 



him that he must make his answer before he stepped out- 
side that circle. Having no alternative, the Syrian king 
submitted to the decree of Rome. Return, and have 
indignation against the holy covenant — This may 
be translated he will again have indignation, referring to 
his former operations mentioned in verse 28. But as the 
same expression is used again in this verse of his having 
regard unto them that forsake the holy covenant it is prob- 
ably better to understand the first return of his departure 
back from Egypt, and the second of his return from 
Jerusalem to Antioch. It is not important to inquire 
whether Antiochus were personally present at all the 
violations of the sanctuary here referred to, or with the 
forces which first and last desolated the holy places. So 
long as all was done by his command he is properly spoken 
of as the responsible author of all the evils. Unable to 
accomplish his purpose in Egypt, he returned and vented 
his rage on the Jewish people, and the outrages referred 
to in this and the following verses appear to be identical 
with those described in 1 Mace, i, 29-64. Them that 
forsake the holy covenant — Apostate Jews, ready 
to accept such bribes as those indicated in 1 Mace, ii, 18, 
where it is recorded that the officers of Antiochus offered 
silver and gold and many rewards to the brave Matthias, 
who, however, proved incorruptible. 

31. Arms from him — Armed forces sent forth by 



ii4 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

profane the sanctuary, the fortress ; and 
they shall take away the continual burnt 
offering, and they shall set up the abomina- 
tion that maketh desolate. 32 And such as 
do wickedly against the covenant shall he 
profane by flatteries : but the people that 



him. This implies that the king himself was not with the 
army that profaned the sanctuary. This also is implied 
in the account of the profanation found in 1 Mace, i, 
41-64. The sanctuary, the fortress — The latter 
word is in apposition with sanctuary^ which the writer 
thought of as the great fortress of the holy city. The 
word may refer particularly to a fortress connected with 
the temple at that time, or, perhaps, to the temple as itself 
the spiritual fortress of Israel. Comp. Isa. xxv, 4 ; Psalm 
xxxi, 3. Take away the continual — See on chap. 
viii, 11. Setup the abomination that maketh 
desolate — The idol altar which was substituted for that 
of Jehovah, and the other like abominations mentioned 
1 Mace, i, 54-59, whereby "the sanctuary was laid waste 
like a wilderness" (1 Mace, i, 39). Comp. notes on 
chap, viii, 13, and ix, 27. 

32. Such as do wickedly against the covenant 
— The same as " those that forsake the holy covenant," 
in verse 30, but designating more especially those who went 
to the extent of sacrificing to idols, profaning the Sab- 
bath, and defiling themselves with heathen practices, and 
so making themselves a most public spectacle of apostasy 
from the religion of Israel. Shall he profane by flat- 
teries — That is, Antiochus will seduce to idolatry by 
deceitful promises, like those by which he obtained the 



Fifth Prophecy. 115 

know their God shall be strong, and do ex- 
ploits. 33 And they that be wise among the 
people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall 
by the sword and by flame, by captivity and 
by spoil, many days. 34 Now when they 
shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little 
help : but many shall join themselves unto 
them with flatteries. 35 And some of them 
that be wise shall fall, to refine them, and to 
purify, and to make them white, even to the 
time of the end : because it is vet for the time 



kingdom (verse 21). People that know their God — 

Like the Maccabean heroes, who showed such firmness as 
the brave Matthias and his sons and followers. See in 
1 Mace, ii, 1-30. Shall be strong, and do — The heroic 
achievements of the Maccabees are among the most bril- 
liant exploits in the history of the Jewish people. 

ss. Wise among the people — The wise leaders 
who were competent to instruct the poople and to inspire 
them with holy enthusiasm for the Jewish cause. They 
shall fall — Many reverses befell the Maccabean heroes 
and their adherents, and not a few perished in the manner 
here specified. 

34. Little help . . . many with flatteries — Occasion- 
ally the Maccabees received small reinforcements and ob- 
tained signal victories ; but they were also joined by not a 
few dissemblers, as may be inferred from 1 Mace, vi, 21, 27. 

35. Wise shall fall — The occasional fall of pious 
leaders and zealous priests (comp. 1 Mace, v, 67) served 
to test the rest, who survived such losses and defeats. 



n6 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

appointed. 36 And the king shall do accord- 
ing to his will ; and he shall exalt himself, and 
magnify himself above every god, and shall 
speak marvelous things against the God of 
gods : and he shall prosper till the indigna- 
tion be accomplished ; for that which is deter- 
mined shall be done. $J And toward the 
gods of his fathers he will not show regard, 



36. Magnify himself— Comp. chap, vii, 24-26 ; viii, 
9-12, and 23-25 ; 1 Mace, ii, 62, and also 2 Thess. ii, 3, 
4, which evidently derives its phraseology from these 
passages in Daniel. Although the Greek and Latin his- 
torians speak of the piety of Antiochus Epiphanes and his 
large gifts to the temples, the Jewish writer sees him in a 
very different light. The different points of view are 
like those of Nebuchadnezzar in chap, ii, and Daniel in 
chap. vii. To one the world empires appear as so many 
kinds of metal ; to the other they are monstrous beasts. 
Speak marvelous things — Amazing for their daring 
insolence and presumption. Till the indignation be 
accomplished — The reference is to God's indignation 
against his people. Comp. chap, viii, 19. What is de- 
termined shall be done — That determined purpose 
has been already repeatedly referred to, as in chap, viii, 
13-19 ; ix, 24, 26, 27. What God has decreed shall cer- 
tainly come to pass. 

37. Toward the gods of his fathers he will not 
show regard — The expression ?V P?*, show intelligent 
respect for, has here the same significance as in verse 30. 
The manner in which he showed disrespect for his father's 



Fifth Prophecy. 117 

nor to the desire of women, nor to any god 
will he show regard, for over all will he mag- 
nify himself. 38 But in his place shall he 
honor the god of fortresses, even a god whom 
his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, 
and silver, and with precious stones, and pleas- 
ant things. 39 And he will do (his pleasure) 
to the citadels of fortresses with a strange 

gods is probably to be gathered from what is said in 
the next verse. He introduced a new deity. The de- 
sire of women — The reference is either to some fe- 
male goddess, as the " queen of heaven " (in Jer. vii, 18), 
or some deity beloved by women. Probably the Syrian 
Nanaea, or perhaps Tammuz. Comp. Ezek. viii, 14. 

38. In his place — In the same meaning as in verses 
20 and 21, not "on its pedestal," as some explain. God 
of fortresses — Probably referring to the Roman deity 
Jupiter Capitolinus,with whose worship Antiochus became 
familiar at Rome, and for whom he purposed to erect a 
costly temple at Antioch. Even a god whom his 
fathers knew not — This seems to refer to the same 
god of fortresses just mentioned, but added for the pur- 
pose of fuller description. Delightful things — Such 
as multitudes delight in, as jewels and costly gifts of small 
size. 

39. And he will do (his pleasure) to the citadels 
of fortresses with a strange god — This is an 
accurate rendering of the Hebrew text, but conveys no 
clear idea. There is probably a textual error, but no 
emendation yet proposed seems altogether satisfactory. 
Hitzig suggested the pointing of W, people, for Dy, with, so 



n8 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

god ; whom he has known he will greatly 
honor, and make them rule over many, and 
will divide the land for a price. 



as to read: "he will make (provide) for the citadels of 
fortresses (or strongest fortresses) the people of a strange 
god." He supposes a reference to Antiochus settling 
heathen colonists in the fenced cities of Judea. But this 
seems like an unnatural way to express such a thought. 
Whom he has known — Recognized and acknowledged 
as a favorite. He will greatly honor, and make 
them rule over many — This was the well-known pol- 
icy of Antiochus. He promoted to positions of honor and 
authority such as he found willing to cooperate with him 
in his ambitious schemes. Divide the land for a 
price — According to i Mace, iii, 36, Antiochus com- 
missioned Lysias, one of his favorites, to place foreign 
people in Judah and Jerusalem and divide the land by lot 
among them. 

40-45. This paragraph appears to give the last stage of 
Antiochus's career, and foretells his sudden fall (verse 45) 
much after the manner of chap, viii, 25. But as all 
history (except what is said in Porphyry's comments as 
quoted by Jerome) is silent touching any such war with 
the king of the south after the interference of the Romans, 
various theories have been proposed to explain this part of 
the prophecy. (1) Not a few eminent interpreters main- 
tain that these verses are not a consecutive and additional 
account of Antiochus, but a general recapitulation of what 
has been said in verses 22-39. The great objection to 
this view is that this paragraph contains a number of new 
and notable statements not to be found in the preceding 
description. (2) Zockler is of opinion that this passage 



Fifth Prophecy. 119 

is the original production of the prophet, while the de- 
tails of the preceding verses 20-39 ( or rea % 5~39) ar e the 
work of some pious Jew of the Maccabean period, who 
interpolated what he thought would make the entire proph- 
ecy more marvelous and telling. (3) Those who believe 
that the book in its present form was written during the 
lifetime of Antiochus, and before that king had fallen, sup- 
pose that the author depicts in these verses his own con- 
ception of what the end of Antiochus must be. So this 
paragraph is ideal and truly predictive, while the preced- 
ing details are descriptive of events which had already 
taken place. (4) Stuart argues strongly that the state- 
ments of Porphyry, as reported by Jerome, are as trust- 
worthy as the fragments of Syrian history preserved to us 
in Greek and Latin writers like Polybius, Appian, Livy, 
and Justin. In view of the fact that these histories know 
nothing of Belshazzar and Darius the Mede, we certainly 
ought not to be governed by their silence on such a mat- 
ter as that recorded in these verses of Daniel. Here, as 
in chaps, ii, vii, and viii, we must allow the prophet to 
explain himself, and interpret his language according to 
its most obvious import. 

We incline to find the true solution of this final picture 
of the great persecutor in viewing it as the last phase of a 
fourfold apocalyptic disclosure. We do not look for 
chronological order in its parts so much as for artistic and 
symmetrical arrangement. The four paragraphs in verses 
21-45 are (1) a general picture of the "contemptible 
one" (21-24); ( 2 ) his successful invasion of Egypt and 
its consequences (25-28); (3) his unsuccessful invasion 
of Egypt and its consequences (29-39); and (4) a glowing 
picture of his last desperate efforts of disappointed 
ambition, and his fall (40-45). Accordingly, the allusions 
to Edom, Moab, Amnion, and Egypt appear to be 



120 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

40 And at the time of the end shall the 
king of the south push himself with him ; 
and the king of the north shall come against 
him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with 
horsemen, and with many ships ; and he shall 
enter into the countries, and shall overflow 
and pass through. 41 He shall enter also 
into the glorious land, and many countries 
shall be overthrown : but these shall be de- 
livered out of his hand, Edom, and Moab, 
and the chief of the children of Ammon. 



modeled after the manner of Isa. xi, 14, 15, and should 
be understood symbolically, and not as literal and historical 
statements. 

40. Time of the end — That apocalyptic consumma- 
tion which is the goal of Daniel's visions. Comp. verses 
27, 35, and viii, 17, 19. The last manifestation of this 
man of sin immediately precedes the Messianic triumph. 
See further on xii, 1. Shall push himself with him 
— That is, wage war with him. Comp. viii, 4. The lan- 
guage implies that the king of the south was this time the 
aggressor. It is not improbable that Ptolemy, encouraged 
by help once received from Rome, pushed himself forward 
into Syrian territory, and so provoked a war. But the 
absence of historical evidence forbids dogmatic assump- 
tions on either side of such a question. 

41. Glorious land — Palestine, as in verse 16 and 
viii, 9. Edom, . . . Moab, . . . Ammon — There are no 
facts on record which illustrate or help to explain these 
tribal allusions. They were ancient hereditary enemies of 



Fifth Prophecy. 121 

42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon 
the countries : and the land of Egypt shall 
not escape, 43 But he shall have power 
over the treasures of gold and of silver, and 
over all the precious things of Egypt: and 
the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at 
his steps. 44 But tidings out of the east 
and out of the north shall trouble him : and 



Israel, and as such (comp. Isa. xi, 14, and Psalm lxxxiii, 
6, 7) may be named as escaping the power of Antiochus, 
and so surviving to add to the troubles of the end (xii, 1). 

42. Egypt shall not escape — The overflowing 
advance and conquests mentioned in verse 40 shall affect 
Egypt, although the three small nations mentioned in 
verse 41 do escape. 

43. Treasures — Compare the " substance " which he 
carried out of Egypt on his successful campaign thither 
mentioned in verse 28. Libyans and Ethiopians — 
We have no account of any such triumph of Antiochus in 
Egypt as this verse implies. The picture suggested is 
that of a triumphant invasion of the land, a capture of 
treasures of gold and silver, and an obedient following on 
the part of the Libyans on the coast and the Ethiopians 
on the upper Nile. 

44. Tidings east and north — Rumors of revolt in 
the far north and east among the Parthians and Armenians. 
All accounts of Antiochus agree that he came to his end 
while pursuing conquests in these regions. A vivid 
description of his last days and death, probably much 
embellished by the writer, may be seen in 1 Mace, vi, and 
2 Mace. ix. 



122 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

he shall go forth with great fury to destroy 
and utterly to make away many. 45 And 
he shall plant the tents of his palace between 
seas at a mountain of beauty of holiness; 



45. Tents of his palace— His own palatial tent, 
surrounded by many other tents of his chief officers. 
Between seas — Notably indefinite expression, as are 
also the connected words to (^, toward, ox at) a moun- 
tain of beauty of holiness. This is usually translated 
between the sea and the glorious holy mountain, and would 
thus most naturally suggest a position between the Medi- 
terranean and the mountain of Jerusalem, where Antiochus 
had often encamped on his journeys to and from Egypt. 
Some have understood the glorious holy mountain to re- 
fer to some sacred mountain of Persia, near the city and 
temple which Antiochus sought in vain to plunder ; but 
after the application of these terms to the Jewish sanctu- 
ary and holy mountain, as in chaps, viii, 9 ; ix, 16, 20, 
and verses 16 and 41 of this chapter, it would be inex- 
plicable for the same writer to use them when speaking 
of a heathen sanctuary. So, too, it would be unaccounta- 
ble for a Jewish writer to use the word seas in such a con- 
nection if he meant to designate thereby the two great 
rivers Tigris and Euphrates, or the Caspian and Euxine 
Seas, or the Persian Gulf and the Caspian. It is therefore 
best to explain the word as a poetical plural referring to 
the Mediterranean as the vast sea ; or, if two seas are to 
be understood, the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, be- 
tween which the holy mountain of Jerusalem is situated. 

While, therefore, Antiochus Epiphanes is obviously 
the daring and impious enemy of Israel depicted in verses 



Fifth Prophecy. 123 

21-39, the last paragraph (40-45) does not accord with 
the facts of history, so far as known. His last encamp- 
ment is here represented as in the holy land, and to say, 
with Stuart, that his last encampment was thus put oppo- 
site the holy city, and his death in the far east " for the 
purpose of impression" is to do violence to the text. It 
is clearly implied that he comes to his end in his camp. 

But a comparison of the great apocalypses shows that 
they employ in common this concept of a last great war 
against the " glorious holy mountain." Ezekiel predicts 
it as a coming of the hosts of Gog out of the uttermost 
parts of the north, u Persia, Ethiopia, and Put (Septuagint 
reads Libyans) with them," and they all perish " upon the 
mountains of Israel" (Ezek. xxxviii and xxxix). So, too, 
in the Apocalypse of John, Satan stirs up the innumer- 
able hosts of u Gog and Magog " to one last assault upon 
the mountain of the house of God, " and they went up 
over the breadth of the land, and compassed the camp 
of the saints about, and the beloved city ; and fire came 
down out of heaven and devoured them " (Rev. xx, 9). 
Comp. Joel iii, 9-16. 

As with most of the Old Testament prophets there is 
a common concept of the coming Messiah, so with the 
apocalyptists there is to be a last great war of the enemies 
of Israel against the holy city. Verses 40-45 seem to be 
cast in the mold of that prevailing thought, and the 
writer, who associates Antiochus with "the time of the 
end," naturally connects with him his ideal of the last 
encampment against the holy mountain. The descrip- 
tion is accordingly ideal, and colored by its association 
with the other exploits of the impious persecutor, who 
was typical of the great enemy of God and Israel. 

If one were to regard any portion of the foregoing 
chapter as an interpolation into the original Book of 



124 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

and he shall come to his end, and no one 
helping him. 

XII, i And at that time shall Michael 



Daniel, it would seem more rational, as suggested in the 
notes on chap, ix, 27, to omit all of chaps, x and xi, and 
connect this twelfth chapter with the close of the ninth. 
Then these four verses would form a fitting close to the 
prophecy of the seventy weeks, and state in brief the 
everlasting issues of that crisis of ages. But as it now 
stands this passage connects with the fall of the great 
enemy, as depicted in the last verses of chap, xi, and, 
taking no note of possible intervening periods of time, 
speaks directly of the final issue of all these troubles of 
the people of God. 

1. At that time — The time of the end referred to in 
verses 35 and 40 of the preceding chapter. With this time 
chaps, vii, 26, and viii, 25, also connect the overthrow of 
the vile persecutor. Let the reader observe how Isaiah 
connects the glorious Messianic picture of Isa. iv, 2-6 y 
with the fearful ruin of Judah and Jerusalem predicted in 
the previous chapter. Let him also notice in the same 
prophet how the magnificent prophecy of the coming 
of the Messiah out of the stock of Jesse in chap, xi is 
connected immediately with the overthrow of the Assyr- 
ian invader described in the last verses of chap. x. In 
such visions of the future no note is made of times that 
may intervene between the catastrophe and the final 
triumph, but the two opposite pictures are made to stand 
out so conspicuously in their main features that all else 
is for the time lost sight of. So here the apocalyptist sets 
over against each other the two momentous facts of his 
vision, the fall of the despicable enemy of his people and 



Fifth Prophecy. 125 

stand up, the great prince who standeth over 
the children of thy people ; and there shall 
be a time of trouble such as never was since 
there was a nation even to that same time : 
and at that time thy people shall be deliv- 
ered, every one who is found written in the 
book. 2 And many of them that sleep in 
the earth-dust shall awake, some to life eter- 
nal, and some to reproaches, to contempt 



the triumph of God's saints in the day of eternal redemp- 
tion. Michael the great prince — The same men- 
tioned in chap, x, 13-21. Comp. what is said of the 
" prince of the host of Jehovah " in Josh, v, 13-15, and 
the angel of Exod. xxiii, 20-23. He is the guardian 
of God's Israel, who stands and presides over the 
sons of thy people. This we regard here, as in Rev. 
xii, 7, as an apocalyptic name and symbol of the Messiah. 
The name itself signifies "who is like God," and suggests 
the embodiment of God's power as seen in the uttermost 
redemption of his people. Time of trouble — The 
"great tribulation" implied in the wars and desolations 
of the seventieth week (ix, 26, 27), and also to be recog- 
nized in the language of Matt, xxiv, 21. Found writ- 
ten in the book — This idea of a heavenly registry of 
those, who inherit eternal life appears frequently in the 
Scriptures. Comp. Exod. xxxii, 32; Psalm lvi, 8; lxix, 
28 ; Isa. iv, 3; Luke x, 20; Phil, iv, 3; Rev. iii, 5; xiii, 8; 
xxi, 27. 

2. Many of them that sleep — This does not say 
"all who sleep," but goes on to say that the many consti- 
tute two classes, one of which shall awake unto life 



126 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

eternal, the other unto reproaches, unto contempt 
eternal. The whole verse emphasizes the diverse and 
eternal issues of the resurrection of that "time of the 
end." Its somewhat indefinite form of statement accords 
with the genuine apocalyptic style, which does not assume 
to clear up all mysteries, but aims rather to create pro- 
found impressions. The one great fact indicated is a 
resurrection of the two classes named. 

The extremes of dogmatism to which this text has been 
pressed may justify some further words of comment. It 
has been claimed, on the one hand, that this verse teaches 
the doctrine of a universal resurrection; that is, of all the 
dead, both the just and the unjust. Rom. v, 15, 19, and 
John v, 28, 29, are often quoted as parallel Scriptures to 
show that many here is equivalent to all. But no writer 
who wished to be understood would say " many of the 
sleeping ones" if he meant "all of the sleepers," or 
"many from the army " if he meant the whole army. The 
expression the many in Rom. v, 15, is qualified by the 
article, and is in the midst of a hypothetical argument so 
as not to be parallel with Daniel's use of the word many 
in this verse. Whatever other Scriptures may affirm 
concerning a universal simultaneous resurrection of 
both the righteous and the wicked, this text does not 
make that statement, and we are not at liberty to 
assume that because Jesus says " all that are in their 
graves shall come forth," and Daniel says "many of 
those that sleep in the dust shall awake," therefore many 
means all. 

Another class of interpreters affirm, on the other hand, 
that the resurrection of the wicked is not to be found here 
at all. Observing that Daniel's words, legitimately ex- 
plained, imply a partial resurrection, they adduce Rev. 
xx, 4, 5, as a parallel, and maintain the doctrine of two 



Fifth Prophecy. 127 

resurrections separated by a thousand years. They sup- 
pose that those who, in Daniel, are " unto eternal con- 
tempt " are the same as those whom John designates as 
"the rest of the dead," who "lived not again until the 
thousand years were finished." This exegesis deserves, 
if possible, greater condemnation than that which makes 
our text a strict parallel with John v, 28, 29, and Rom. v, 
19. As well might one claim that when, in 2 Sam. ii, 1.3, 
it is said that the servants of Ishbosheth and those of 
David went out to meet at the pool of Gibeon, " and they 
sat down, these on this side of the pool, and those on 
that side of the pool/' the first "these" refers to those 
who went forth, and the second to those who remained 
behind ! When a writer says, " Many of the dwellers 
of Jerusalem went forth out of the city, these to life and 
those to death," he adopts a most extraordinary way of 
informing us that only those who went forth lived, and 
those who remained in the city died. 

Daniel's language naturally conveys the idea that "at 
the time of the end " many from among those sleeping in 
the dust will awake ; these " many " will represent two 
classes, one destined to eternal life, the other to eter- 
nal shame. That these two classes will be raised simul- 
taneously is not explicitly stated, and need not be as- 
sumed ; nor is it necessary to insist that we have in 
Daniel the identical teaching of either John v, 28, or Rev. 
xx, 4, 5. What all "Michael the great prince" may do 
for his people, or for any selected portion of them, at any 
time, is a matter of "times and seasons which the father 
has set in his own authority " (Acts i, 7). On such ques- 
tions of biblical theology we should recognize the different 
conceptions and diverse statements of the different writ- 
ers, and guard ourselves from presumptuous dogmatic 
assertions. 



128 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

eternal. 3 And they that be wise shall shine 
as the brightness of the firmament, and they 
that turn many to righteousness as the stars 
forever and ever. 4 But thou, O Daniel, 
shut up the words, and seal the book, even 
to the time of the end : many shall run 



3. They that be wise — Like those mentioned in 
chap, xi, 33, who not only possess wisdom, but impart it 
unto others. Turn many to righteousness — Comp. 
the work of the righteous servant, Isa. liii, n. The 
w r ise teachers in God's Israel, who by their efficient labor 
of love turn multitudes from sin and error unto righteous- 
ness, share in the glory of their Lord. The comparison of 
the brightness of the firmament and the stars is a 
most appropriate and beautiful turning of one's thoughts 
to the glory of the heavenly life. And thus the revelation 
ends with the glimpse of the "immortality and eternal 
life " which the ever-living God provides for his people. 

4. Shut up the words, seal the book — This com- 
mand most naturally refers to the entire book of Daniel's 
revelations, whether communicated by dream, by vision, 
or by the word of the angel. It is like chap, viii, 26, and 
Isa. viii, 16, a solemn charge to preserve the written reve- 
lation in security. Daniel wrote his dreams (vii, 1), but 
he did not, even after the explanations of the angel, fully 
comprehend them (vii, 28 ; viii, 27). None could clearly 
understand all their import at that time. They were, ac- 
cordingly, to be kept in most careful security unto the 
time of the end, when God's own providence would 
make all plain. 

Many shall run to and fro — This has been ex- 



Fifth Prophecy. 129 

to and fro, and knowledge shall be in- 
creased. 



plained by many as a " diligent running to and fro in 
pursuit of knowledge with reference to the meaning of this 
book ; " that is, many will search it through and through. 
Some understand it of a wandering about in perplexity, 
and unable to find the true meaning of the book. But 
such a metaphorical meaning of the word has no sufficient 
warranty elsewhere. It is better to take the word in its 
ordinary meaning, and connect it closely with what fol- 
lows, where one result of such running about is told. 
Knowledge shall be increased — This would follow 
as the result of men's running to and fro in the world. 
Intercourse, travel, and commerce ever tend to increase 
human knowledge. The Alexandrine version here sug- 
gests another reading (njnn instead of Hjnn), according 
to which we have : and the evils shall multiply. This 
emendation has some support in 1 Mace, i, 9, and fur- 
nishes a very suitable conclusion to this part of the 
prophecy. 

The rest of this chapter (verses 5-13) forms the con- 
clusion of the Book of Daniel, and records a sublime 
vision of angels and a number of notable statements touch- 
ing the time of the end. To these mystic time designa- 
tions we devote the brief excursus which follows. 



SYMBOLICAL NUMBERS IN DANIEL. 

The designations of time in the Book of Daniel are 
notable for their variety and indefiniteness. Besides the 
mystery of the seventy heptades (ix, 24-27), we have the 
twice written "time, times, and dividing of a time " (vii, 
25; xii, 7), the two thousand three hundred "evening- 
mornings" (viii, 14), the one thousand two hundred and 
ninety days (xii, n), and the one thousand three hundred 
and thirty -five days (xii, 12). There is also the expres- 
sion "many days " in viii, 26, "the end of years " (xi, 6), 
and "the end of times, years " (xi, 13). No attempt that 
has ever been made to explain these numbers literally, or 
to fit them with mathematical accuracy to known periods 
of history, has been able to command a general and con- 
tinuous following. 

The phrase "time, times, and dividing of a time" 
has been very naturally believed to designate so many 
years, and the statement of Josephus ( Wars of the Jews y 
Book I, i, 1) that Antiochus "spoiled the temple, and put 
a stop to the daily offerings for three years and six 
months " goes far to confirm this belief. Moreover, three 
and a half years, reduced to days by reckoning twelve 
months of thirty days each, are twelve hundred and sixty 
days (360x3^=1260). Comp. Rev. xi, 3; xii, 6, 14, 
which is obviously modeled after Daniel. Comparing 
this number with the one thousand two hundred and 
ninety, and one thousand three hundred and thirty-five of 
chap, xii, n, 12, and the implied one thousand one 
hundred and fifty of viii, 14, we observe an approximation 



Symbolical Numbers in Daniel. 131 

of numbers which seems designed to suggest at once both 
similarity and difference. The highest number (one 
thousand three hundred and thirty-five) is seventy-five 
days more, and the lowest (one thousand one hundred 
and fifty) is one hundred and ten days less than three 
years and a half, reckoned in round numbers as above. 

In verse 7 of chapter xi we have the solemn oath of 
the angel that "the end of these wonders" will be "a 
time CtTO), times, and a half." In vii, 25, the times 
(pjpt) and laws are given into the hand of the persecutor 
for "a time (HV), times, and dividing of a time." Here 
are three different words for time, but there appears no 
important difference of meaning between them. The 
period is most satisfactorily explained as identical with 
the one thousand two hundred and ninety days of xii, 11, 
during which the daily offering was taken away and 
heathen abominations substituted by order of Antiochus 
Epiphanes. A comparison of this statement with those 
of viii, 11, and xi, 31, leaves no room to doubt that this 
is the meaning as understood by the author of this book. 
How notably this agrees with the statement of Josephus, 
quoted above, must be apparent to all who study this 
question. 

But how to explain the one thousand three hundred and 
thirty-five days of chap, xii, 12, is not so apparent. The 
most plausible explanation, perhaps, is the supposition 
that the one thousand two hundred and ninety days were 
the exact period during which the profanation of the 
temple continued, and the one thousand three hundred 
and thirty-five days extend the period on to the death of 
Antiochus, which may have happened (?) forty-five days 
after the sanctuary had been cleansed, and the daily offer- 
ings restored. But this attempt to make the prophecy an 
exact numerical designation of the times must needs be 



132 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

unsatisfactory for at least two reasons. (1) The absence 
of sufficient historical data in the life of Antiochus. The 
precise dates of the defilement and cleansing of the sanc- 
tuary are not certainly known, and we have no trustwor- 
thy record of the date of Antiochus's death. The literal- 
ist interpreters are obliged to confess this, and to base 
their exposition confessedly on probabilities. Further- 
more, it is very questionable whether the blessedness pro- 
nounced in xii, 12, is properly explained as arising from 
the fact of the death of Antiochus. (2) Such precise 
designations of time, understood literally, are not in 
harmony with apocalyptic prediction. The visional rap- 
ture, and the symbolical foreshadowing of great events, 
do not comport with definite literalism of numbers. Ap- 
proximate designations may be recognized, as in the 
seventy years of Jeremiah (xxv, n), or the sixty-five 
of Isaiah (vii, 8). But even there a variation of several 
years would not invalidate the prophecy, for no one can 
tell with convincing assurance just when those seventy 
years began and ended. The fact is that between the 
destruction of city and temple by Nebuchadnezzar, and 
the decree of Cyrus to return and build again, there 
elapsed but little more than fifty years. But dates, more 
or less plausible, may be found by which the period of 
Babylonian exile may be made to be sixty, seventy, 
eighty, or even a hundred years. The seventy heptades 
of Dan. ix, 24-27, cannot be made to fit any dates 
which furnish exact numerical fulfillment of the several 
statements. 

In view of the endless confusion and difficulties which 
beset all attempts at a literal exposition of these numbers, 
we prefer that principle of exegesis which treats all pro- 
phetical designations of time as essentially symbolical. 
The numbers four, seven, and ten are quite generally 



Symbolical Numbers in Daniel. 133 

allowed to admit of such symbolical meaning, and pro- 
phetical usage conforms to this principle. The mystic 
period of three and one half (time, times, and dividing of 
time) is best explained as a broken seven, and always 
represents a period of calamity and distress. Comp. vii, 
25; xii, 7, and Rev. xii, 14. It may be approximately 
three and a half years, but its significance is to be recog- 
nized in its being a broken seven rather than in any exact 
number of days or years intended. And as in Rev. xi, 
3; xii, 6, and xii, 14, the phrase is obviously equivalent 
in meaning to one thousand two hundred and sixty days, 
we incline to the belief that the number of days given in 
Dan. xii, 11, 12, and viii, 14, is also designed as a like 
equivalent. The differences may, perhaps, have related 
to facts no longer known to us, but the very puzzling 
differences, one thousand one hundred and fifty, one 
thousand two hundred and ninety, and one thousand 
three hundred and thirty-five, may have been designed to 
suggest that the "time, times, and dividing of a time" 
could not be reckoned with mathematical accuracy. So 
Jesus gave his disciples most positive assurance that 
Jerusalem's desolation would occur in their generation, 
but that the day and the hour were hidden in the coun- 
sels of the Father (Matt, xxiv, 34-36). The approximate 
time they might infer, but the specific periods they were 
not permitted to know, because they were matters of mys- 
tery " which the Father set in his own authority" 
(Acts i, 7). 

The perplexing uncertainty involved in such diverse 
designations Daniel himself confesses in viii, 27, and xii, 
8, but the additional numbers given in xii, n, 12, were 
not adapted to furnish any clearer understanding of the 
time. Verse 12 at most implied that some special blessed- 
ness was in store for those who survived the period of 



134 The Prophecies of Daniel. 

calamity denoted in verse n. It was all summed up in 
the concluding verse of the book : And do thou go to the 
end, and thou shalt rest and shalt stand up for thy lot at 
the end of the days. The end is to be understood, as else- 
where in this book, of that Messianic goal and consum- 
mation when God's people were to be vindicated and re- 
ceive the kingdom. The words rest and stand up may 
refer to the sleep and the resurrection of those in verses 
2 and 3 who shall " shine as the brightness of the firma- 
ment and as the stars forever and ever/' But all is in- 
definite. The prophet is simply assured that he will rest 
and obtain his own proper portion at the last. Just when 
that end should come is not revealed, but those who 
passed on beyond that limit, even though it be but as the 
space of forty-five days (1335 — 1290=45), should attain 
the blessedness of a glorious resurrection. Comp. the 
similar hope and suggestions of Rev. xx, 6. This clos- 
ing assurance implies that Daniel might not expect to 
know, from the numbers given in verses 1 1 and 1 2, those 
mystic times and seasons which the Most High alone can 
clearly comprehend, but he might be comforted with the 
thought that they were all determined by the Holy One of 
Israel, who would, in his own time, deliver every one of 
his people who are found written in the book (xii, 1). 



INDEX 



Abomination of desolation, 62, 

63- 
Agathocles, 98, 99. 
Alexander the Great, 57, 66, 

90, 98. 
Alexandrian Version, 10, 69. 
Angels, doctrine of, 37, 88, 89. 
Antiochus I, Soter, 92. 
Antiochus II, Theos, 92. 
Antiochus III, the Great, 96-103. 
Antiochus IV, Epiphanes, 48-51, 

59,68-70, 104-123, 130, 132. 
Apocalyptic machinery, 62, 64, 65. 
Artaxerxes, decree of, 79. 

Babylonian empire, 18, 20. 
Bel and the Dragon, 10. 
Belshazzar, 19, 27, 28. 
Berenice, 92, 93. 

Cassander, £7. 
Chittim, 112. 
Cleopatra, 101, 102, 106. 
Cyrus, 34, 56, 78, 79. 

Daniel, common Hebrew name, 9. 
Long life of, 12. 
Literary problems of the 

Book, 9. 
Greek versions of, 10. 
Haggadic additions, 10. 



Original text lost, 10. 

Influence on later apocalypses, 
12. 
Darius Codoinannus, 66, 89, 90. 
Darius Hystaspis, 56. 
Darius the Mede, 18, 19, 21. 
Demetrius, 50. 
Diadochi, 23, 45, 58, 67. 

End, the, 87, 120, 123, 124, 134. 
Evening — morning, 63, 64. 

Fourth kingdom, Greece, 43. 
not Rome, 26. 

Gabriel, 72. 

Greece, the fourth kingdom, 22, 
34, 44, 66. 

Heliodorus, 50, 104, 106. 
Heptades, 76, 80, 86. 
Horn, the little, 44, 47-51, 59. 
Host, 59, 61, 65. 
Prince of, 60. 

Judgment, symbols of, 36, 52. 
Jupiter Capitolinus, 117. 

Kingdom of Christ consistent 

with existing evil, 39, 52, 53. 
Kittim (Chittim), 112. 



136 



Index. 



Lsenas, C. Popilius, 112. 
Lysias, 118. 
Lysimachus, 67. 
Lucius Scipio, 102, 103. 

Maccabees, 115. 

Median regency at Babylon, 19- 

21, 31, 32. 
Medes and Persians, 19, 20, 

56, 65. 
Medo-Persian empire, 19, 20, 33. 
Messianic prophecy in Daniel, 

40, 80-84, 124, 125, 134. 
Michael, 88, 89, 125. 

Nebuchadnezzar, 18. 
Numbers, symbolical, 74, 77, 
130-134. 

Onias III, 106. 

Originality of Daniel's prophe- 
cies, 11. 

Parsee tradition of four trees, 16. 
Persia, kings of, 22, 89, 90. 
Persian empire, 19, 20, 33, 34. 
Pseudepigraphal apocalypses, 

12, 13. 
Ptolemy I, Soter, 91. 
Ptolemy II, Philadelphus, 92. 
Ptolemy III, Euergetes, 94, 95. 
Ptolemy IV, Philopator, 96-99. 
Ptolemy V, Epiphanes, 98, 99, 

101. 
Ptolemy VI, Philometor, 50, 108, 

no, 112. 
Ptolemy Physcon, 108, 112. 



Repetition in apocalypses, 13. 
Resurrection, 125-127. 
Roman empire, not fourth king- 
dom, 26. 
Romans, 83, 85, 112. 

Saints reigning, 42. 

Sanctuary desecrated, 60, 83, 85, 

in, 113, 114. 
Scipio Asiaticus, 102, 103. 
Seleucidse, 92. 
Seleucus I, Nicator, 67, 91. 
Seleucus II, Callinicus, 93, 95. 
Seleucus III, Ceraunus, 96. 
Seleucus IV, Philopator, 50, 

104. 
Seventy weeks, prophecy of, 

71-87. 
Shushan, 54, 55. 
Son of Man in clouds, 39, 40. 
Susanna, Book of, 10. 
Symbolical numbers, 74, 77, 130- 

134- 
Symbolism, details of, 25, 

Temple desecrated, 60, in, 113, 
114. 

Ten kings, the, 44-47. 

Theodotion's version of Dan- 
iel, 10. 

Transgression of desolation, 
62, 63, 

Wings as symbols, 30. 

Zockler rejects Dan. xi, 5-39, II. 



,r<rO 



